School: Christian Life Schools
    Rockford, Illinois, United States

Nine students, ages 12-16 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 15, 2006. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 0

Classes and Teachers: Mrs. Hulstedt

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.clschools.org/

1. Description of Our Community

Our community is a manufacturing city of around 150,000 people located near the Illinois-Wisconsin border and known as the state-line area. The setting of our community is defined as a metropolitan area with shopping and grocery stores accessible in minutes from anywhere in the city and surrounded by a combination of rural farmland and housing complexes that rapidly change the landscape from agricultural to suburban. Consequently, not only are the museums located in the middle of the city, but they are also snuggled within suburban landscapes.

2. Summary of Our Project

This project depicts the history of our great community and its strengths in the variety of museums that house its heritage and the spirit. Not one of the museums in our project can be seen as a strength within itself; each is a portion of the whole embodiment of the citizens of Rockford. Each museum has a unique character, not to be outdone by one of the other museums that we have come to view as a friend from the past that demonstrates a strong bridge to our present. Just as bridges are important to our beautiful city, our past, present and future are bridge to flow together by the museums that identify who we are and the successes we have had through manufacturing in the Midwest.

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:more than 50%

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:more than 6

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dial-up modem

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:4-6

E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):

During the project, our school was gracious enough to give us free access to its computer lab whenever we needed it, including during the weekends and after school.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

Time has been our worst enemy. Students are involved in numerous activities and getting together to put our material together and take time to go to the museum campuses has been a challenge. We had a couple of holiday days off school and were able to successfully make our outings on those day. This endeavor has brought students and parents closer together as parents attended the museums with the students and time was spent analyzing what was achieved by each visit as family time.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

Project Eagle strives to enlighten members of our community to the cultural heritage that blends diversity, yet retains and preserves the background that makes Rockford unique in its own culture.

6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?

Our project explored various locations that have played significant roles in the development of our community. Through this research process, the students' writing abilities have seen a definite improvement, as well as their abilities to manage time. Our team practiced preparation and a wise allocation of time so that we would have enough time to complete the project.

In most areas, using the internet was much more effective than traditional methods. It was much easier to research the history of our community than it was to do so in a library.

1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your CyberFair project?

For our project our team used digital still cameras, oral interviews with the museum guide, books from the library and the museums themselves.

We were greatly helped, in fact, we would not have obtained any of our information without the above help. Our most valuable information came from actually visiting the museums and asking questions about the exhibits.

2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person.

Each student felt like an “ambassador” representing our CyberFair entry as we contacted the curator from each museum to explain our mission and set up an appointment for our visit. Students and parents became a team as they excitedly worked on this project and spent quality time as a family and as a part of a larger program committed to represent our school and desiring to portray our community to others. We further became “ambassadors” to ourselves as we have come to take our community for granted and often feeling we have nothing special to offer visitors who come to Rockford. We have come away from this project feeling the project has been an “ambassador” to us and helping us to understand why we should take great pride in our community and appreciate the variety of interests Rockford holds for not only visitors, but also for its citizens. This project was a wonderful way to gain public speaking ability both on the phone, through e-mails and in person. Through this project, many people have been curious enough to check out our school website and the CyberFair contest more specifically. People are truly impressed with the work that has gone into this project. Jason is the major constructor of this website and has had contacts of people wanting to hire him for the quality of workmanship and detail the project exemplifies. That in itself speaks highly of the project.

3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?

The impact of this project is yet to be measured. Our city council has been contacted through a local alderman and we have contacted the mayor’s office to enlighten him of this venture. Our community will recognize the website as we have sent press releases to the local newspaper and local television and radio programs. We anticipate the teens being asked to be on a morning or noon local television program to get the word out to more of the community about the website. Students are buying an advertisement in the local newspaper to further promote the venture. We fully believe we are in no way finished with being able to present it to various groups around the area. We certainly hope our project has made a difference in many ways. First, it has enhanced the relationship between a few thirteen year old youths and a sixteen year old from the same school. These middle school youths look up to Jason Febery and have every right to do so. Jason is an excellent student who is scrupulous in details relating to this project. This alone has spoken volumes to these younger teens and in turn they should someday make a difference in the lives of younger teens. We know students at school have learned new things through our Web pages. Many have never spent time at any of these local landmarks and now they at least have one of the museums on their “to do” list of things to do in the near future. Many people gave input into this project. We wanted to make this a Rockford area project in every way and even asked the use of the Phantom Regiment, an internationally recognized band and we are honored to have their music on this project.

4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?

Help was recieved from each of the locations that we visited. Information was distributed, tours given, and pictures taken with the help of workers at each location. Also, our project has recieved advice from John Groh, the Head of Rockford's Chamber of Commerce. Also, many parents put a great deal of time and energy into this project. It couldn't have been done without them!

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

Through working on this project, our team has learned many lessons, the most significant of which is time management. With a project of this magnitude, it is necessary to create a timeline outlining when everything should be accomplished. By doing this, we feel that we were able to allocate our time wisely, and thus finish with time to spare.

Our project has recieved recognition and praise from a number of sources, including local newspapers, educators, aldermen, and other government officials.