Pat, Chris, and Susan meet with Gladys to share their Showcase presentation plan.  But first, Susan shares some unpleasant news.

As told by Chris Pacey.

"I have some students who are really excited about this project,” I began, “and they are even more excited about presenting their ideas.  I think it’s because they are so involved and invested in working with actual scientists.  The energy they have put into the project has created a level of ownership for schoolwork I usually do not see."

Ruth nodded her head and added, "It is true.  The kids seem quite excited.  I think their sense of accomplishment has led to an uncommon pride in their work.  They also love the fact that they are in the running to win something.”

I laughed.  This was definitely a competitive group.

Gladys jotted something in her notepad, then sat back in her chair.  From the lines contorting her forehead, I could tell her wheels were spinning.  ‘This should be a good one,’ I thought to myself …

"You two sound very positive about all the recent work,” she replied.  “Would you be willing to do an interview with the Keever Sentinel next week?  Something like this, a community-based project involving people from the public and private sectors, could open the eyes of people who view education as the same old process.  I think we are changing things for the better and I want people to know about your efforts.  What do you think about the interview?"

‘Not in a million years …,’ I thought to myself.  I looked at Ruth, who was grinning from ear-to-ear.  She looked like a puppy waiting for a snack, with her head bobbing up and down like that.  I stared back at her with a blank look until she realized I was less than enthusiastic.  Slowly, her grin faded – but I could tell she wasn’t going to let this one pass.

She turned toward Gladys and asked, "Can we sit on that for a bit?"

"Sure, just let me know tomorrow."

Gladys was happy.  Knowing Ruth as long as she has, I’m sure she could tell she had at least one willing participant. 

“So … perhaps we should talk about how we are going to present our project?” Pat interrupted.  I could sense Pat’s anxiety.  There are a lot of bases to cover over the next few weeks.  She obviously wants to get the ball rolling on all the things she needs to do.  Frankly, I was happy she was refocusing the meeting.  "Susan, do have any input from your staff?" she continued.

Susan looked up from her PalmPilot and frowned.  "I'm a little hesitant to bring this up," she began.”

‘Uh-oh.’ I thought to myself.  We all fell silent. 

Susan continued: "Ron, the manager of the team that has worked with us so far, is pulling his team away from this project.  He feels that the effectiveness of the team has diminished since the project was started and people are not giving their full attention to the lab."

"He can't do that!" I blurted out.

"What?!" added Ruth, an incredulous look twisting her face.

Gladys kept her composure, but it was clear she was annoyed.  "I can't say that I approve of that decision one bit.  It really leaves us in a bind since community involvement was a key component in the Virtual Mentoring Project’s selection as a Best Instructional Practice by DPI.  Is there anyone at your organization that would be interested in picking up where Ron's team left off?”

"I do not know,” Susan replied.  I could hear the exasperation in her voice.  I’m sure she had gone to the mat for us within her organization.  Still, I couldn’t help feeling a little betrayed.  Susan added, “There is a company-wide plea out to anyone who would be willing to help.  I may know something tomorrow.”

Pat was visibly agitated.  I heard her mumble something that sounded like “…just one less thing to coordinate” but I wasn’t sure.  If the presentation fails, we all look bad.  But I could sense Pat felt more responsible than the rest of us.  I was glad, then, when she regained her composure and responded.  "I am sure there are other options we can explore if Ron's team does not work out,” she offered.  “Let's wait until tomorrow to think about that and deal with the parts of the presentation we can deal with."

"That sounds good,” I replied.  “The absence of the scientists will be disappointing to our students but I think they’ll still be enthusiastic.  They want to present their work."

"I agree,” added Ruth.

Gladys chimed in, “I would bet, too, that Oscar's teacher education students at the community college will be similarly undaunted.  He emailed me a few days ago to let me know that he gave his students their mid-term assessment and that they raved about the VMP.  Their initial feedback is that this has been one of the best school projects in which they have been involved and that they have learned a great deal from the process and the results.  The contact they have had with our students has been eye-opening for them.  In fact,” she continued, “Oscar said they were surprised at how dedicated and how capable our high school science students really are."

I glanced at Pat, who was frantically writing in her notebook.  Susan, on the other hand, was visibly relieved by our reaction. 

"I'm glad that you all are not up in arms about the decision of my company,” she offered.  “To tell you the truth I was pretty scared to come in here and tell you the bad news; everyone has been working so well on this.  We will do our best to make sure someone can step up in the next few days and offer our support and presence for the big presentation."

Everyone nodded in acceptance.  We sat in silence for a few seconds as everyone soaked up the new plan.

After a moment, Ruth broke the silence.  "I have an idea for the presentation, she began.  “Why don’t we mimic the flow of an actual research paper?  As you all know, there are two parts to the presentation.  We have to make a poster/presentation board of our project, and also have a seminar ready for everyone to watch.  We could assign teams of students from Poplar Hill with the community college students to do a section of the presentation.  One team does the intro, one does the methods, one does the results, and one does the discussion.  Each team would take the information from their section and prepare versions for both the poster and the actual presentation."

I looked around the room.  Heads were bobbing in agreement.  Gladys offered a few choice words about community learning, collaboration, the newspaper, and good exposure for the school.  Then she paused, adjusted her glasses, and continued. 

"This all sounds great,” she began, “but where is the technology?  Isn't this a technology competition and not a science fair?"

"The computer club has that all taken care of,” responded Pat.  I could sense a touch of aggravation in her voice.  “The club has been working with the other students to weave current technology into the science project.  The club and the community college have created a plan as to support the project.  This cooperation, of course, is another instance of collaboration between the middle school students and people in the community.

The club has been monitoring and documenting the process since the beginning.  Every e-mail that has been sent by any involved party throughout the experiment has been cc’d to the club.  They have been taking digital video footage of meetings and every time the researchers and students have gotten together to take data or set up a new treatment for the experiment.  They have also been getting time lapse footage of the Petri dishes as the bacterial colonies have been growing.”

Susan added, “I have been very impressed with the computer club’s dedication to the documentation process.  What is their plan for presenting all of this?”

I chuckled.  I know Pat, and I know she’d been waiting all afternoon for this question! 

Pat smiled.  “This is where the good stuff starts,” she began.  “First, all the growth data the science students have collected is being entered into Excel Spreadsheets.  The club is helping the science students build some good graphs showing the growth results.  They are also using iMovie on our 2 new E-Macs to edit the regular and time-lapse video footage into 20 minute videos.  A few of the club members are working on a web page that will embed the written research, the graphs, the QuickTime movies, and other general info like text and pictures.”

Everyone seemed pleased by this news.

“If we go with the idea that people split into sections for the presentation, do you think that the club would be willing to help put the PowerPoint together?” Ruth asked.

Pat nodded.  “That shouldn’t be too hard.”

“What if we had the videos ready to show with the poster/presentation board at the Tessie Showcase?” Susan asked.  “That could be a real coup.”

“Can we put information onto cd’s here?” Gladys added.  “What’s that process called?  Firing?”

“Actually, that process is called burning and, yes, the new EMacs can do that.”  Pat was on a roll.

Gladys was starting to get excited again.  “Perhaps we could have a stack of cd’s burned with lots of information on them ready to hand out to people…”

“That would work fine,” Pat replied.  “I think it will work well to present the video next to the Poster and to give people access to the web pages via a cd. The community college has also volunteered to post hypermedia versions of whatever we create on their server and we hope to have that up and running a few days before the Showcase.  Perhaps we can even weave it into the actual presentation of the mentoring project.”

Ruth spoke up.  “All of this sounds wonderful,” she said.  “I’ll volunteer to give Oscar Wynne a call at the community college and give him all this news.  We should give him the chance to add on to what we have discussed since his students are heavily involved.  Or maybe he will agree on what we have talked about here and he can get his students ready to go.  Regardless, we should all start getting our jobs done.  The Showcase is three weeks away.”

“Sounds good,” I replied.

“Ok,” added Pat.

Susan slid the stylus into its holster and stuffed her PalmPilot into her jacket pocket.  “I will get back to you all tomorrow with, hopefully, some good news from my end,” she offered.  “Once again, I am really sorry about the behavior of our organization.”

As our chairs started to shuffle, Gladys spoke.  “I would like to clarify one thing.  We are submitting all this for consideration of the Tessie Award.  Is the technology going to present the science project or is the science project going to present the technology.  How are we going to frame that?”

‘A pretty loaded question for 4:00,’ I thought to myself. 

“I think the idea is that there are two concurrent projects supporting each other,” I began.  “Perhaps we should push the technology to the forefront since it is the Tessie Showcase and not a science fair.”

I glanced at Ruth, who was grinning again and pretending to be a reporter taking notes.  I smiled.

“Lets table that issue for now and everyone think it over,” Pat replied.  “I know it’s late and people have things to do.”

We all agreed.  As I lifted my chair and placed it on the table, I glanced at my watch.  4:10p.  There’s no way I’ll be able to feed the kids before practice tonight.  I’ll have to think of something …

“… Chris?”

I turned to my left and saw Susan standing next to me.

“Sorry,” I replied, embarrassed that I had not heard her the first time.  “I was just thinking about dinner …”

“Oh, don’t even go there.”  Susan smiled.  “Sam is eating me out of house-and-home these days … I have no idea where she puts it.”

“She’s a good kid,” I replied.

“She has a good teacher.  That makes all the difference.”

I smiled and thanked her.  “We’ll see ...,” I replied.

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