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1. Description of Our Community
Chung Shan Elementary School, a facility with about 115 years of history, is situated at the center of Changhua City, surrounded by such establishments as the Bureau of Cultural Affairs, the City District Office, National Changhua University of Education, and its alumni are to be found everywhere around the world. Mr. Kun Cheng, a Changhua resident, is currently the president of the leading outdoor and sporting goods brand Atunas based also in Changhua. At first he entered Shan Wong Industrial Company, which at the time chiefly produced flip-flops and EVA foam materials. Yet, due to major industrial transformations in the 80s and the growing decrease in profit for subcontracting business, he began to consider possibilities for creating a brand conceptually congenial to the shifting market. With that in mind, he eventually left Shang Wang Industrial, and with a few partners joint-ventured and founded Atunas Corporation, which focuses primarily on the marketing of Atunas swimming and outdoor recreation goods, as well as being the appointed agent for the goods of various foreign brands. With the efforts of the leading directive members, Atunas was able to break even by the end of their first year, and has been able to produce net profit beginning from the second year. Kun Cheng regularly sponsors charity and sports events, the most impressive of which being the 7 Summits mountaineering project, whose goal to train persons that will scale the seven highest peaks of the world was realized with the successful attempt of its trainees in 2009—thanks to which we can now find our national flag billowing in Himalayan winds. Though Taiwan lacks peaks that rise over 4000 meters with which to train mountaineers, thanks to his generous sponsorship, our country was nevertheless able to complete the daunting feat of allowing its members to scale the highest mountains in the world.
2. Summary of Our Project
Mr. Kun Cheng, a Changhua resident, is currently the president of the leading sporting goods brand Atunas based also in Changhua. He loves sports, and has moreover regularly sponsored charity and sports events, such as providing mountaineering equipment for thirteen students and faculty members of National Taichung Special Education School for the Visually Impaired, who successfully scaled Mount Jade in 2000, and announcing in 2005 a training program for gold medal for orienteering in the World Games in Kaohsiung. From 2006 to 2009 he sponsored and participated in the 7 Summits mountaineering project, and set various national and international records. In 2009 he sponsored the Special Olympic Winter Games by providing eighty waterproof jackets for Chinese Taipei Special Olympics. In 2009 Chung Shan Elementary School had the privilege of being nominated as candidate for Best Athlete Supporter Award, and was awarded by the Sports Administration the honorable approval of the gold certificate. Our school’s swimming team also benefitted from his sponsorship and produced impressive results in the past, and it is for these reasons that we wish to introduce and interview in detail this man who has helped Taiwan become so much more than it could have been to stand amongst the best in the global scene.
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:1
C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection
D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:more than 6
E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):
Chung Shan Elementary School uses a 100MB fiber-optic scholastic network, which allows us to utilize the internet to search for data as well as to share it among members. In addition to the computer lab, the school also supplies laptop computers which we can borrow and, coupled with the wireless network in school, use to update information over the internet.
4. Problems We Had To Overcome
1.Data collection: In the beginning, our instructor distributed to each of us the portions of data which we were to find for use, and though what was needed could be found on the internet, most of it was incomplete, and so we spent more time than we had anticipated collecting relevant data fragments. It is only with the help of our instructors that we were able to slowly piece together the introductory texts presented in our final project. 2.Illustrations: To convey in the most intuitive and direct fashion to the largest number of people what it is that we wished to communicate, as well as to make our website look more interesting, we, after discussing with instructors, decided that we would make illustrations that would match its corresponding content. But, none of us were adept at drawing, and it was thanks to the retired Mr. Wang who kindly helped us in this respect that we were able to complete our illustrations. 3.Interviewing: We remember when we first interviewed President Cheng every one of us were new to conducting an interview, and so even though we had prepared questions to ask, we still felt intimidated during the interview, and there were even times when everyone would become so nervous as to fall complete silent. But, as we made more interviews, we gradually felt more at ease with asking questions, and were more able to interact with our interviewees accordingly rather than just silently nod our heads throughout.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
Our participation in International Schools CyberFair has introduced an outstanding entrepreneur, Kun Cheng. Kun Cheng is not only a successful businessman, but also an environment- caring person. He sponsored and participated in the 7 Summits mountaineering project, and set various national and international records. He has helped Taiwan become so much more than it could have been to stand amongst the best in the global scene. Kun Cheng is a good model for our school students and our community. Through our project, we enlarge the influence of Kun Cheng. We hope there will be more people know Kun Cheng and make them think how to be successful in their lives and contribute to their societies.
6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
We learn the following skills: 1.Interviewing techniques: When talking with another we have to be polite. It is especially important that we tell our interviewees who we are, the purpose of our interview, the content of our project. We also try to take into account our interviewees’ time schedules to make interview appointments. 2.Writing skills: During this Cyberfair project we had to organize the data we found on the internet and in books and magazines data regarding President Cheng, and this is harder that our usual writing drills. 3.Teamwork: Over the course of our project, because of the amount of data to collect and compile, we had to distribute the work among ourselves. We divided ourselves into three smaller groups, and each group was to collect data in accordance with its assigned sub-topic. We also worked collaboratively, and compensated each other where extra hands were needed.
We obtain some specific concepts : We learned that a person who is successful is not measured by how much money he has or how big his business is, but rather how much he is able to contribute to the society. President Cheng is an exemplary figure in this respect. When we interviewed him, despite our obvious inexperience and timidity, he still kindly and at times humorously guided us along the way like a loving family member. We interviewed his staff members, his family, and his friends, and every one of them praised him as an outstanding company owner and husband who is meticulous yet congenial. We also learned of the importance of time management. President Cheng, despite being a corporate leader, is also at the same time able to chair the China Youth Corps and obtain an EMBA degree. We find it hard to imagine how he finds all the time to do what he has done, and when we asked this question during our interview with him, he simply deferentially stated that he has rather poor time management skills, and has yet much to learn.
We notice some problems with the current …
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