School: Chang Sing Junior High School
    Changhua, Taiwan, R.O.C

6 students, ages 13 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 11, 2014. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2013

Classes and Teachers: Ching Yun Tsai

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://163.23.68.130/htdocs/

1. Description of Our Community

Changhua City, which is situated on the hub of mountain and seashore transportation, is a pristine city featuring a wealth of outstanding people and historical monuments. The Grand Buddha on the Bagua Mountain has been rated as the most representative landmark in Changhua City by local residents. CHSH is situated on Huayang Hillrock of Bagua Mountain in Changhua City. It is the number one education institution in the greater Changhua area. Featuring plenty of old and leafy banyan trees, the CHSH campus is famous for its nice environment with overflowing greenness. Entering the CHSH campus from the school gate on the Huayang Street, one would immediately catch the sight of a few snails on walls of the Mingde Building, which symbolizes CHSH students’ sprit of “working steadily and making solid progress, and engaging in down-to-earth hard work to pursue one’s dream”.

2. Summary of Our Project

Over the past few years, CHSH has endeavored to broaden students’ international vision and was appointed as a “model school for international education” by the Ministry of Education under the lead and advocacy of Library Director Hsing-chung Lyu. In particular, the CHSH International Youth Volunteer Club, which was established under the guidance of Director Lyu, is responsible for preparing for a series of activities such as the annual Global Young Leaders Conference of High School Students, international volunteers to Swaziland in Africa, thematic site visits in Japan, and the “Marks of Angels” youth development platform. Students who participated in those activities are our role models to emulate as they showed us high school students’ care for their roots and their contribution to the society which nourished them besides their diligence in academic studies. Our Cyberfair project intended to feature a series of caring for the international society activities initiated by the CHSH International Youth Volunteer Club. We also planned to conduct in-depth studies and visits to see how those CHSH students, who were only three to four years older than us, pursued their dreams bravely, turned the impossible into the possible, and realized their sublime ambition of establishing a reservoir in Swaziland, Africa.

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:none

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:1

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

Lack of experience and difficulty in controlling the progress As the CHSH International Youth Volunteer Club did not have its own website, all data of volunteer activities had to be compiled from the scratch through actual interviews, which was very challenging. Project members’ lack of experience also resulted in a lot of time being wasted in the process of organizing records of interviews and the subsequently delayed work progress. Fortunately, we made use of recording pens when the interviews were in progress. Learning from our previous failure in recording the first interview, we attempted a more effective method later on: dividing the audio file of each interview record in to six smaller audio files, emailing the six audio files to responsible project members individually, and letting project members convert content of the six audio files into six word documents. In doing so, project members could have a faster typing speed as they did not have to understand the content of each audio file. Finally, project members combined the six word documents into a word document of complete interview records, went through the whole document to ensure the comprehensibility of the content, reorganized and embellished the entire text, and turned the document into an all-inclusive, clear, and coherent interview record.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

During our participation in the Cyberfair project, we have witnessed the CHSH “one person’s library” and the establishment of the CHSH International Youth Volunteer Club, which has become the best learning platform for students to expand their international vision and to care about societies worldwide thanks for Director Lu’s insistence on never giving up. In the past eight years, Director Lu has led students to organize the “Global Young Leaders Conference of High School Students” each October, travelled to Swaziland in Africa to participate in international volunteering activities each July, and initiated the “Walk for Water” fundraising campaign for building a reservoir in Africa for three years in a row. From the array of activities, we could envision Director Lu leading a group of young volunteers to pursue their dreams fearlessly. How could high school students build a reservoir for Africa to improve the life of orphans in Africa? However, what showed in front us was a group …

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

In order to incarnate Chang Sing Junior High School’s ideal imaginary students – students who are well-educated, sensible, and possessing a great character, the school especially values the promotion of education through reading. Further, the school also acts as a “central school to promote life education in Changhua county”, and is devoted to the promotion of active and positive life experience as well as participation in the society. Other than the emphasis that students have to complete the task of reading through actions, our current theme CHSH International Youth Volunteer Club encourages students to enrich their own knowledge, walk toward people, and change the world through reading. Through giving story-sharing presentations and participating in the fundraising campaign with other students, our project members gained a wealth of life experience, which was in line with the school’s education principle.

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

Computer and the Internet Recording pen Landline phone, cell phone Digital camera Social network E-mail Portable hard drive, flash drive Scanner Printer Microsoft Word Photo Impact Dreamweaver FileZilla FTP Client

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

We contacted Director Lu through parents of project members and began a series of “learning on the job” and interviews after obtaining the permission of Director Lu. In addition to interviewing two club teachers, current club cadres, and retired club cadres, we also obtained relevant information for the project through interviews over telephones, cell phones, emails, and social networks. While the Cyberfair project was in progress, our parents were deeply impressed by the efforts and devotion of National Changhua Senior High School (CHSH) students in activity preparation when our parents read the interview materials. Other than supporting our efforts to make the Cyberfair project perfect, our parents also encouraged us to study hard to be admitted to CHSH and join the meaningful club in the future. Through the Cyberfair project, all people could have a deep understanding of how great the CHSH International Youth Volunteer Club is for giving humanitarian care to those at the impoverished corners around the world by organizing international activities biannually in the hope of improving the life of orphans in Africa continually.

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

From a video clip that we watched when we interviewed the CHSH students, we learned that impoverished students in Africa walked for over 10 kilometers to school every day only to eat a corn porridge meal, which was their only meal in one day. Not only that, local residents also had to travel for over 10 kilometers to get drinking water. Besides, there was a phenomenon that many recipients of scholarship or financial aids for local high school students were much older than average high school students due to their delayed school admission as they couldn’t afford tuition fees. We were all stunned by these stories about children in Africa! Things that we took for granted in our daily life such as foods that were readily available, clean water resources, and right to receive education, however, were happiness that children in Africa wanted for very much but were denied to obtain. This triggered project members’ introspection that we, as citizens in the affluent Taiwan, should cherish what we already had, waste no food and water resources, treasure school resources and study hard, and feel grateful for our parents’ love and care for us.

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

Director Lewis Lu, Teacher Tsai-lien Hu, all members of the Taiwan International Youth Volunteer Club at our school. 1. Accept face-to-face interview. 2. Provide information. 3. Provide photos and video clips of club activities. 4. Accept telephone interviews and provide relevant information.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

While conducting relevant interviews with the Global Young Leaders Conference of High School Students, we found that the work team consisting of over 100 team members was not like a sheet of loose sand as we had imagined. On the contrary, those students maintained a conscientious and diligent attitude throughout all activities and preparation work, which ranged from the most basic training on standing, sitting, and manners, a strict requirement of conforming to disciplines and being punctual, to scrubbing toilets, sweeping staircases, moping the floor, wiping elevators, and making the activity venue spotlessly clean before the activities. From all the efforts, we witnessed that behind a successful activity was many responsible people’s devotion of their time and their endeavor in the pursuit of “perfection”. People’s efforts were the realization of Director Lu’s saying: “Do not give up any single task. Instead, strive to make it done perfectly when you are given the opportunity to do so as success is the foundation of another success!”