Team Assessment

Teaming and Communication
Our team had the advantage of being both co-workers and friends. Even before we were familiar with the project, most of the team was already very good friends with one another. This allowed for an especially cohesive team which handled the problem in a similar matter. While there will always be minor disagreements, we had the benefit of a mutual respect for one another and a usually high spirit de corps, which kept the group together. Our teacher, Mrs. Kozak, kept our eyes on the goal at our meetings. Her persistence and devotion to the team is undeniable, and without her our team would not be where we are now. Our Technical advisor, LTC Steven Fleming, was always ready to devote a Sunday to helping out our team and answering any questions we had. He was always available over email and was an integral member of our research group.

Research and Innovation
Through our Internet Science Research project, we as a team identified that what we learned in school really did help us in real life. By taking lessons which we have been taught over the past eleven years, we were able to solve an actual outstanding problem. It is one thing to be able to answer questions in some textbook, but it is quite another to use knowledge to make a genuine difference. Another thing which we realized was that we, even as high school students, had the ability to develop solutions to complex problems. Finally we learned that youth can make a difference in the world. Even though we had not college experience and didn’t even possess a high school diploma, we were still respected by members of the industry because of our motivation and our perseverance.

The Lessons We Learned

• Interpersonal problems can be easily solved through compromise and reason.
• Anyone, even high school students, can do anything they set their minds to.
• Knowledge will get you far in life.