School: National College 'Eudoxiu Hurmuzachi'
    Radauti, Romania, Romania

4 students, ages 16-17 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 31, 2011. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010

Classes and Teachers: Coaja Gabriela, Lazarescu Antoneta

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.cnhurmuzachi.ro

1. Description of Our Community

Radauti is a small city in the northern part of Romania. It has about 25000 citizens of different ethnicities, religions, cultures and political ideas. This region has been under many occupations, therefore these regions left a mark over these places. Not to be forgotten is the region where we live in: Bukovina. This region has its location in 3 countries: Romania, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova. Even so, this region is a like a whole and we have all bonded with each other.

2. Summary of Our Project

The purpose of our project is to bring closer the people from our community and the tourists to the sacred life, the culture and to raise the appreciation for these places. We must learn to grasp the fact that these monasteries represent an oasis of culture and spirituality. These monasteries are internationally recognized for the originality they have been built and their wall paintings, being considered unique Byzantine masterpieces. We must take advantage of every chance we have in order to change us into good and, thus, to get closer to the absolute. We are aware of the fact that only by working together, by believing in our cause and by involving as many people as possible, we will reach the aim of our project.

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:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:more than 6

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

As enjoyable as working for this project has been, there have been obstacles that we had to overcome. Since our school timetable is so tight, we didn’t have too much time to work for the project without falling behind with our school work. Moreover, the church priests weren’t so cooperative, so we had to limit ourselves to gathering information from History books and also by asking our Religion teacher, Leon Postolache Miriam. Since we needed computer and web designing skills, we had to work extra hours to learn the essentials. As a team, we managed to find solutions and to finish the project in time.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

As soon as we asked for opinions in our classroom, and also from some other students in our school, everyone was so intrigued by the project that some of them even offered to help us. We are happy that we managed to attract so many interest, and we are satisfied with what we did.

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

Finding information for this project required teamwork, patience and conscientiousness. By working in a team, we enriched our English and we enhanced our collaborating skills. Aspects that we learned at our History and Religion classes, stimulated us to value more these jewels carved in stone. We found information that impressed us and made us to want to find out more about the history of these historical places that left a mark on our ancestors. These monasteries are still visited by people all over the world.

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

During the time we set up of our website, we used our personal computers, having non-stop internet connection. Our main sources of information were the internet, the books and our Religion teacher. Under the coordination of our computer science teacher, Gabriela Coaja, the website was created using HTML and CSS language, and the different graphical elements have been created with Adobe Photoshop.

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

In the beginning we started to present the idea of our project to the class, after which we composed a survey with questions concerning the monasteries and the spiritual life of our community. We applied it to 264 students from our school. After this, we gathered the answers and drew diagrams with the data, making it easy to understand

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

Among our town we managed to stir up the curiosity and the admiration of our fellow citizens. We showed them the imposing beauty of the Monasteries, and made them grasp the importance of them, from the cultural point of view. Our project is based on the spiritual aspect of these places and so we try to make people understand that by acknowledging the monasteries, and their importance, they come across with their sacredness.

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

There has been a variety of collaborators that came up with ideas to develop our website. They gave us new hints where we could find fresh information. We would especially like to thank Gabriela Coaja – our computer science teacher – who coordinated us in completing this project, Leon Postolache Miriam – our Religion teacher who provided us with precious information, and all our fellow students that helped us in applying the questionnaire.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

We received help from the community, which we didn’t expect. A thing that had taken us by surprise during the project was the fact that we could easily work as a team overcoming any problems that occurred.