School: Tankovoye Boarding Gymnasium School for Gifted Chi
    s. Tankovoye, Crimea, Ukraine

3 students, ages 17 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 20, 2003. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2003

Classes and Teachers: Mr. Ismail Hayredinov; Asan, Ruslan, Dilyaver

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://none

1. Description of Our Team

The team is described at club.cris.net/leadership/files/team.html -------------------------------- Our community -------------------------------- Our school is located in one of the most picturesque regions of Ukraine - the Crimean Peninsula. The little village named Tankovoye, surrounded by gracious mountains, curvy river and green valley, hosted our school 10 years ago. Since then the Bahchisaray district of Crimea became the second home for 200 gifted students of Tankovoye Republican Boarding Gymnasium School. The elite students from all over the Crimea come to this school to acquire the Knowledge. The school tolerates the ideas of peace and interethnic unity among its students. For the years of its existence the school has made many friends that are open for cooperation and practical exchange. Our community is everyone, who shares the idea of civil society, reformation and democracy; everyone who believes in national dignity and international cooperation; and everyone who wants to achieve success, contribute to the social welfare, and live for common good. We would describe our community as all the schools and the educational institutions of the district and nearby cities.

2. Summary of Our Project

As we have reviewed the categories, we have stopped on Leadership Traits as it was something that has never been discussed or researched within our school system. We tried to focus our project on the small group of people and indirectly affect the whole community. Our team has involved the School Parliament in order to organize the Week of Diplomacy, and designed the list of activities that would require the participation of young people as well as adults, attract the public attention to the problem, and benefit all the members of the community. The following activities were expected to contribute to the achievement of these goals as they really did. 1. The Essay Competition was organized for all the school students in order to promote critical thinking about the nature of leadership. This activity helped us to generate many new ideas and answer the part of the Discussion Questions. More than 40 essays were written. 2. The Poster Competition was organized to promote the team work and cooperation. The students have covered the topics of Diplomacy, Peace and Tolerance. 7 posters were designed by the classes. 3. The Day of Self-Governance was organized in order to promote youth leadership. On this day all the employees, including the Principal, Administration, Teachers, were substituted by students. This day has provided an opportunity for students to practice their leadership skills, take the responsibility and realize the importance of correct governance. 4. The Conference is the climax event of the Week of Diplomacy. After long preparations, the Scientific-Practical Conference took place. Specialists from the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Education, Committee on Family and Children Affairs, representatives of district schools came together to discuss the problems of leadership and find the ways of its popularization. It was an appropriate maneuver to attract mass-media.

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:less than 20

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:2-3

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

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:2-3

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

The first problem we have faced was how to raise some funds to organize all the activities, including the high-cost conference. This problem was solved after we have contucted the US Department of State's American Councils on International Education. They agreed to sponsor the part not provided by the school. Another serious problem arose during the research. The school has a small library and problemous internet access, that is why the problem of the informational lack stood sharply all the way. The students leave for home only once in two weeks, that is why the problem was almost unsolveable. There were also problems encouraging the community to cooperate and feedback. However, the problem was solved after the community noticed the serious and devoted work of the team members, their purposefulness and interest in work being done. The community eagerly feedbacked and cooperated with us, supported all our initiatives, provided some help. As it was recommended we tried to attract mass-media, however, they did not want to cooperate with us. Ukrainian mass-media covers the results, but is never interested in the process. But most of them had to come to the conference since it was a big republican event. But probably the biggest problem that was present at all times is the time scarcity. All our activities required a lot of preparation and generally hurried us. However, we tried to do our best not to postpone and devided our responsibilities fairly.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

The participation was a unique experience for all - the team, the school, the community, - as the project generated new ideas, practiced old skills, organized original activities, attracted interesting people, and contributed to the prosperous future of the community. This project has become a completely new experience for the students as well as for the teachers. It helped to browse many question from a different point. The students learned how to find original solutions for banal arising problems. During their work the team member have developed personal organizational, communicational skills, have met people that govern their school life, and learnt a lot about the leadership. Working with the community they have learned what to be the leader means. On the other side, the teachers and principals of local school acquired new practical skills of upbringing leaders. The conference opened new innovative approches and showed the problem from a different angle.

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

ost of the work on the project was done with the School Parliament - the student body that is functioning according to the curriculum of the Ministry of Education. This form of self-government is present in a few schools and such practice is new to the school system. The student body needs preparation, which is not grounded by certain methodical literature. Thus, such an event was a good exercise and practice. The members of the Parliament themselves answered to the range of questions and learned a lot of lessons. The Project has developed their organizational, communicational, and cooperational skills.

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

Since the computer technology resources are new to our school programs we have had limited tools. We have worked on 2 Celeron computers, used 2 telephones, a scanner, some books and newspapers. Of course, the Internet was of the biggest help, however, oral communication and traditional methods of gaining information had much higher impact on the participants of the project. Digital camera was of a great help while creating the web-site.

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

This question is quite relevant to our Project. While organizing a conference the students had to contact all the guests, tell them about the conference, and invite to participate. The most common way of communication was the telephone, however, exchange of information also took place through fax, e-mail and regular mail. Some situations were quite unpleasant. When a student made a call to the Republican Committee on Family and Youth Affairs and tried to explain that he needs someone who works with leadership, the employee of the Committee had really hard times understanding what was going on.

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

Our school is a set of 200 individualities with their personal views and values. It is really hard to pursuade at least some of them to agree with a certain point. It is evenmore harder to make them do the needed work. However, this Project had unexpected results. When we announced the Essay Competition, we though that we would have to force everyone to write those essays, however, we had an unexpected feedback - 40 essays, which were written to demonstrate individual views on the problem of leadership. It was a certain achievement for our team - we did attract the attention of our schoolmates to the problem of leadership. Great impact on the community had the conference. First of all it has attracted the attention to the problems of leadership and civil pride. Secondly, it has demonstrated the principles of equality, the students were participating along with the professional teachers. This conference was a seed - the spirit of leadership - that will grow into a big tree when all the participants of the conference spred their materials and share the information. Thus our project has long term results, and who knows what positive experiences it can bring when we finish it. Moreover, the web-site will be a wonderful push-point for new initiatives. Our experience might help other communities to conduct similar events and contribute to the prosperity of the leadership in their communities. The web-site has been demonstrated on the conference, and all parties concerned will receive the address after we place it.

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

First of all we had to involve the School Student Parliament that have really contributed to the Project outcome. During our activities almost all the teachers and tutors were involved, as their help needed according to their competence. English teachers helped with the Essay Competition, organization councelor helped with the Poster Competition, different teachers were involved in the Conference. We asked for help and support when we needed an advice. A lot of help was provided by the school principal. We had to contact the Ministry of Education and the Committee on Family and Youth affairs in order to learn what organization work on the problem of leadership to invite them to the conference. We contacted Ministry of Justice's Educational Department, Ministry of Education to gather some handout information for the conference. We tried to receive some help from mass-media. They were involved in the conference. Parents and regular community members provided help with organization and implementation of the conference. And of course the Project would not be complete without the Minor Academy of Sciences that provided us the web-hosting. We would like to express our appreciation to everyone who have helped and supported us. We look forward to future cooperation.