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STUDENTS: Technology's Value to Me (r)

(written by coldspring@iearn.org, 03/25/1996)

Subj: Gov. Conference
From: Joey Bergida
Grade 12

Topic 2

Participating in a variety of telecommunications projects has
undoubtedly been an educational experience that could not be
replicated in a classroom.  Having the opportunity to talk
with other students about current events, as well as issues
of the past, has added an additional dimension to my interest
in and understanding of global problems.  For example, two
years ago The Contemporary was in the middle of some very
intense and interesting discussion with Israeli and
Palestinian students concerning the problems in the Middle
East.  The media, while reporting what was happening, could
not offer the personal accounts that our friends living there
could.  Often times they would report to us what was
happening, and later that night I would hear about it on the
news, only I had more information than the media presented,
and I had it from people who were living the events being
reported.  In addition, it made the world a smaller place.
Israel no longer seemed so far away, and the worries the
people there faced became the worries we faced.

Earlier in my telecommunications work, a supplement to an on-
line project resulted in a trip to Israel and Poland.  The
trip was a study mission for those involved with a project
that focuses on the Holocaust and other acts of genocide.
I took this trip during my freshman year, and I know it is
something I will never forget.  We spent two weeks travelling
with students from various parts of the world, many of whom
we already knew because of our telecommunications work.

These experiences and opportunities are not possible through
a text book or in a classroom.  So for me, telecommunications
has provided an opportunity to learn through discussion and
experience.