NEWS

ThinkQuest Newsletter
October, 1998

Contents:

• Feature: Letter from a Participant
• Announcements
• ThinkQuest Teams in the News
• Technical Tips & Hints from the HelpDesk

• Feature: Letter from a Participant

One of our goals at ThinkQuest is to provide students with the opportunity to further their education with scholarship awards. We believe that as valuable as the scholarships are, the value of participation goes far beyond them. The rewards of team work, friendships, research and other academic skills, and the confidence and pride that come from creating a wonderful web site that is used by students and teachers around the world, can be priceless. Al Weis received the following letter several months ago that made us all feel we must be doing something right. We did not print the author's name but you know who you are!

Hiya!

You don't really know me, but I certainly know you...you changed my life!
I'm one of the students who won your inaugural ThinkQuest competition. I just wanted to drop you a line in give you a quick update on how great your program is!

Before ThinkQuest I really couldn't afford college, so I intended on going to a two-year trade school to learn carpentry or electronics or something like that. But with the help of your scholarship, I was able to afford to go to a small, private college where I'm triple majoring now in Pre-Med, Computer Science, and Business Administration. This never would have been possible if it weren't for your generous help!

In addition, I've taken what I've learned in ThinkQuest (which is everything, since I started ThinkQuest with NO prior web knowledge) and have gone on to become a web programmer for my college as well as various businesses. These jobs are how I manage to continue to afford school here.

Life is great now... I really have a direction, and I owe it in great part to you! I can't even begin to thank you enough! Thank you again for changing my life! (and my parents thank you too!)

A ThinkQuest 96 Participant

PS: If you ever come up with anyway that we graduated participants can do to get back into the program, I'd love to get re-involved in TQ! It's a great program. Keep up the good work!

• Announcements:

THINKQUEST EDUCATIONAL SUMMIT - KIDS, TECHNOLOGY AND THE NEW MILLENNIUM

NOVEMBER 21-23, 1998, LOS ANGELES, CA

There is still time to register for this unique educational experience for educators, parents and students. The summit is being held in conjunction with the annual ThinkQuest Awards Weekend. Come and meet with leaders from the worlds of education and technology to discuss the impact of the Internet on learning, today and in the new millennium. Attendees will also have an opportunity to be guests at the spectacular ThinkQuest Awards Event. For details on presenters and sessions, and to register for this important event visit the Summit Web site at: http://www.thinkquest.org/summit/index.htm

1998 SEMI-FINALISTS ANNOUNCED!

Congratulations to all of the 1998 ThinkQuest Teams. The sites are terrific! The Internet Society Judges and ThinkQuest acknowledge the hard work that is done by every student in creating their ThinkQuest. The ThinkQuest 1998 Judging Criteria are found at: http://www.advanced.org/ThinkQuest/compete/com-chooserulesfr.html

The complete list of Semi-Finalists can be found at: http://www.thinkquest.org/explore/exp-tq98semifr.html

THE 1999 THINKQUEST RULES ARE NOW ONLINE!

Everyone who is interested in being a 1999 ThinkQuest contestant should read the new rules. There are some important changes! The rules can be found at: http://www.thinkquest.org/compete/com-chooserulesfr.html

WELCOME NEW NATIONAL PARTNERS!

We would like to welcome Carnation Strategic Internet Consulting of Hungary, Hachette Livre of France and the National Center of Scientific and Technical Research, CNRST, of the Republic of Mali to the growing family of ThinkQuest National partners. For a full list of National Partners, please see: http://www.thinkquest.org/about/abo-internationalfr.html

• ThinkQuest Teams in the News:

ThinkQuest 1998 Team #15511 is featured in the NetGuide Education Guide at: http://www.netguide.com/Snapshot/Archive?guide=education&id=1387

The site, "World War II: The Homefront" can be found at: http://hyperion.advanced.org/15511/

Congratulations to the following teams: #13681 "Why is the Mona LisaSmiling?", #17457 "Volcanoes Online", #16132 "Natural Disasters", #15413 "Music Notes", and #10977 "Mathematics with Alice." These teams won the e-sweet Award from France. Access these and other great sites at: http://www.capway.com/thomas5/laureats.html

"Why Is the Mona Lisa Smiling?", ThinkQuest 1997 entry #13681, has been featured on the Idea Channel page as a music resource:http://www.ideachannel.com/Music.htm

• Technical Tips and Hints from the HelpDesk
  By Aaron Schlesinger

Great News for 1999 Thinkquest Developers: Are you planning your web page and wondering what to do about all those "CGI'S" and "PERL" scripts you keep hearing about? No programmers around to join your team? New for the competition this year are the official "Thinkquest Development Tools" for those of us that aren't computer programmers, but still wish to make sites that do some of the cool things programming can create!

In every team's administration directory, there will be special web page for teams to configure a host of tools including a guest book, a counter, a search engine, and many more useful programs. These programs will all be configurable via the web, eliminating the need for direct editing!

The ThinkQuest Newsletter is edited by Sonia McSweeney

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