By: MacKenzie Hammond
In December of 2009, I was lucky enough to attend the STLP Regional Competition at Northern Kentucky University. The event, which featured schools from around Northern Kentucky, taught me more than I thought could be learned in a single day. From how Facebook can help bring awareness to AIDS and elementary students can help stop the spread of the flu, it was evident that people in my age divison are driven, and more than willing to use Technology to draw attention to their cause.
A For AIDS
It’s odd to find high school students in Northern Kentucky who are working to prevent AIDS in foreign countries but students from Campbell County High School are doing just that. They are using social networking sites that fellow classmates and people all over the world use on a daily basis, Facebook and Skype to help “spread the word, not the disease.” They use the web cam website Skype.com to upload a video with an aide worker in Africa working to help prevent AIDS, then upload the video to Facebook so all of their friends and family, and even people they don’t know from around the world can see it. Levi, Axel, Briana, and Thomas created A for AIDS with the help of Thomas’ cousin who is in Africa and was on the other end of Skype at the presentation. This presentation was visually appealing, informative, and just all around interesting. A for AIDS get’s an A+ in my book.
Elementary Students Help Stop The Spread Of Season And Swine Flu
“What kind of bug is going around?
It’s the germs germs germs no more.
No more germs we are here to learn
Let me tell you this is what to do
So you don’t get the flue
And keep you from feeling blue
This is what you should do
Lose the germs, germs, no more germs.
No more germs, we’re here to learn.”
Students at Mildred Dean Elementary School used this creative poem and others like it to teach younger students how to prevent the spread of the flu. With the assistance of Microsoft PowerPoint, they created a slide show presentation to help students visually remember these tips. The schools mascot, the hornets, also helped students remember these tips; phrases like “Bee healthy” and photos of cartoon likes bees covered the schools exhibit. The use of PowerPoint was creative and visually appealing. I believe these students are the next wave of pediatricians if they still have this passion when they enter college.
It’s the germs germs germs no more.
No more germs we are here to learn
Let me tell you this is what to do
So you don’t get the flue
And keep you from feeling blue
This is what you should do
Lose the germs, germs, no more germs.
No more germs, we’re here to learn.”
Students at Mildred Dean Elementary School used this creative poem and others like it to teach younger students how to prevent the spread of the flu. With the assistance of Microsoft PowerPoint, they created a slide show presentation to help students visually remember these tips. The schools mascot, the hornets, also helped students remember these tips; phrases like “Bee healthy” and photos of cartoon likes bees covered the schools exhibit. The use of PowerPoint was creative and visually appealing. I believe these students are the next wave of pediatricians if they still have this passion when they enter college.
Jones Middle School STLP Takes Flight
The students at Jones Middle School must get tired of bad behavior. These girls created a video using the theme Jets (Jets, Exhibit, Safe behavior, Take responsibility, Show respect) to demonstrate approiate hallway behavior. I was amazed by the quality of this video and the amount of skill that goes into making a video that is overwhelmingly good. The girls also used a form of Claymation, clay and animation techniques to create a clay model and video which was aviable to see in person along with the video. These girls plan on continuing there video making through-out the school year and to make videos focusing on cafeteria and restroom behavior. Hopefully their program takes flight and continues to soar for years to come!
Think Pink
Facebook, a place for friends, but did you also know it can be a place for information, on breast cancer? Carroll County High School students did their research on breast cancer and in hopes of spreading this information, took to Facebook. They created a support and information group on the social networking site, which is open to anyone on Facebook. Their pink an
d green exhibit was eye appealing and catching the attention of many people, including myself, and they hope to do that with the students at their own school. In addition to spreading awareness through the internet, they plan to organize a “Hat Day” in which students pay a dollar to wear their favorite hat all day, and the group plans on donating the profits to the Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation. It’s great to see people taking such an important cause to the internet and saving lives with it.
d green exhibit was eye appealing and catching the attention of many people, including myself, and they hope to do that with the students at their own school. In addition to spreading awareness through the internet, they plan to organize a “Hat Day” in which students pay a dollar to wear their favorite hat all day, and the group plans on donating the profits to the Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation. It’s great to see people taking such an important cause to the internet and saving lives with it.Being a daily user of technology I was amazed by how far it could go, and how many people it could really connect with. Having the pleasure of going to the regional STLP competition was eye opening, and the things I learned were timeless. I had the pleasure of meeting so many young people, who were so selfless, and were more than willing to take time out of their day to prepare their exhibits. I couldn’t imagine a better way to spend my Friday afternoon than learning about things so simple as which way to walk in the hallway, and complicated as breast cancer and AIDS, nor could I imagine a better way of keeping STLP programs alive and thriving in schools around the state.
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