Cyber Quest member, Ashley Morrison, and Cyber Quest adviser, Catherine May, hold their winning trophies.

Two teams held up Granite Hills’ eight-year record of victory at the 2007 Cyber Quest competition on November 17, in the Visalia Convention Center. The teams faced off against each other and six other teams from Tulare Union in a competition of multimedia and presentation skills. The teams took first and third place, Where a team of two from Tulare Union took second.

The Cyber Quest competition,  put on by the Tulare County Office of Education, first began in 1998 so the theme for this year was “Power of X,” to highlight the function’s ten year anniversary. Participating teams ranged from as young as third grade to twelfth grade. The younger divisions were given different scenarios.

The first place team, which included Dean Blackstone, Joel Jacuinde, Angel Hernandez and Eddie Campos called themselves, “Grizzlies Extreme.” The third place team, which included returning seniors Ashley Morrison, Angela Rispoli, Jaime Hernandez and Quaraya Fuston, called themselves, “Team Extreme.”

The teams were judged based on the quality of presentation and multimedia skill they were able to apply to their project. They were given a scenario, three weeks prior to the competition, which they would be required to explain and display in a detailed PowerPoint. The scenario provided this year was to explain three X-treme Olympic sports and recommend one, in a fictional situation that they would be representing EXPN in a presentation to an Olympics committee.

Once the teams knew the objective they were given one week for research, the next week to assemble a PowerPoint, and the last week to practice their presentations.

Catherine May, Granite Hills Librarian, has been the PowerPoint coach for Granite Hills since 1999, when the school first took part in the competition. She explained that this year the students weren’t given as much time to practice as in the previous years.

“I didn’t get them out of class as much. I think the group would have done better if they hadn’t been stuck to their cards and had more time to practice,” said May.

The teams prepared for the competition where they would be evaluated on criteria of their speaking and PowerPoint multimedia skills as well as their presentation’s quality of information and credibility of cited resources.

May said, “It’s always amazing to me that they want to do it each year. They get that competitive drive each year. I like to have those experienced people doing it and always have new people coming in.”

Blackstone, who is a junior and has participated in this event since his freshman year, expressed that he was nervous, in spite of his prior experience because of the lack of time his team had to practice.

Upon taking first place, Blackstone was, “shocked.” He said, “When they said our name I didn’t believe it. The funny thing about [winning was] we only rehearsed for one day. We only got out of class a couple of times.”

May felt the teams were really strong this year because of the input from experienced students who have won in the past. However, she expressed that each year the teams participate in Cyber Quest, the outcome is unpredictable. “I never want to go over there saying, ‘it’s a shoo-in. We’re going to win.’ I’m always nervous because they’re volunteer judges and sometimes it just depends on how they feel. You never know how they’re going to judge sometimes.”

Three weeks of research and practice proved effective when Blackstone’s team took an almost perfect score: 30 out of 32. He was not expecting to do so well, as he expressed being confused when his team was called for taking first place.

Blackstone felt nervous during the competition. “It was hard. There was a lot of tough competition but we made the best with what we had,” he said.

Though Granite Hills teams have placed in the previous years, the turnout of two victories this year, was a slight surprise to May, though she felt the students had been working hard and had what it took to maintain the Grizzly record.

“I had talented kids. They enjoy what they do. They’re competitive. They’re great students in their other classes. They’re a group of kids that are willing to work hard,” May said.  The skills they learn through the program help them in several other educational and social aspects, according to May. “Some of them go on to Academic Decathlon and end up doing really well,” she said. However, she expressed, “I don’t think the word is out about what Cyber Quest is. The kids that know about it have done it before and dragged in a buddy or two.”

Ashley Morrison, a senior who has participated in the event for three years now, feels that, “More people need to do Cyber Quest. It’s fun it’s something people don’t’ really take into consideration because they think it’s geeky.” Morrison said that the program has benefited her in the sense that she is able to deliver information more accurately and confidently, and also because the scenario research can be highly educating. “It teaches you good skills for life,” she added.

Glen Williams, who is the instructional consultant for the Tulare County Office of Education, observed that the program is vastly growing. “We started ten years ago with 27 teams and this year we had 108.” Williams sees students improve through the program, while the level of skill the participants bring has also increased over the years.  “[The program] really gets kids to use technology in effective ways. It gives them [a] broad range of experience with multimedia. The level of presentation has dramatically improved over the years. Kids are getting more sophisticated [with their multimedia use]. Their skills in being presenters have improved dramatically,” said Williams.