Eastern Mediterranean College students ranked first place in the “International Schools CyberFair” Competition

  They narrated the story of the Dance of the Needle, and brought the Platinum Award to the TRNC

EMC Students became world champions with “Dance of the Needle”

Global School Net functioning in the United States organized the International Schools CyberFair Competition in collaboration with the White House where the students representing Eastern Mediterranean College demonstrated excellent performance and became world champions in the Local Specialties category.

With the guidance and coordination of Güncem Kinay who is in charge of the EMC Computer Center and the Information Technology Instructor, the following students Ülvan Özad, Zeki Ilkan, Açelya Cosar, Sertunç Tuncel and Meltem Burak participated in the competition with the “Islander” logo. EMC library director Sevim Erol and EMC Computer Center assistant Gökay Erol made significant contributions to the project.

The competition is organized annually and so far more than 1 million children from 100 countries and 4500 schools participated in this competition. CyberFair 2005 had “Prepare and Unite” as its vision. 290 schools from 100 countries competed in 8 different categories. Group Islander competed in the “Local Specialties” category where 32 schools from 25 countries participated, and the group received the “Platinum Winner” award.

In the “Local Specialties” category, the history of Lefkara Lace Embroidery was treated from the socio-economic perspective and was supported by interviews and photographs. Pictures from the Lefkara village were also presented in the project and students had proposals to help the Lace work of Lefkara return to its former prosperous status. The research project prepared by the EMC students can be viewed at http://www.emccyprus.com with the title “Dance of the Needle.“ The web page is supported by rich flash animations.

The students emphasized the significant role the youth had in clinging to our local cultural values, in generating new ideas to be ready for the future, and stressed the global significance of their project.

The group coordinator Güncem Kinay who is an Information Technology instructor said the following: “We are very proud of having achieved this result. This success displays our perfection in our educational activities. At EMC, we are aiming to train our students fully knowledgeable in all fields, be able to use all kinds of information technologies, be competent in more than one foreign language, and have certain characteristics that distinguish them from other members of the society.”

Kinay added that they were very proud of the great performance of their students in an international competition as well as in international examinations, and said these were the products of the great significance the school attached to modern and scientific education.

Kinay also stated that quality was an issue they would never give up on, and was something they were constantly working on so as to take it a step further ahead. The students have not only won a website reward. They also had the opportunity to develop their skills on how to conduct a team work, how to start working on a project, how to delegate roles in a team, how to present their findings in the most effective way, and last but not least how to present the material most effectively to third parties. One of the most significant factors in this success is the fact that foreign students and a jury evaluated the projects and announced the team as the world winner. Kinay concluded by expressing her gratitude to her colleagues and to the school administration for providing them will all the facilities.

The students forming Group Islander said the traditional cultural values of Lefkara Embroidery were on the decline and that they were produced commercially using basic patterns; the group members told they had concentrated on these from a sociological and economical perspective as well. The students also expressed how they were able to find a means of addressing the world youth through this web based project and that their education was not limited to classrooms but continued with extramural activities as well. They also mentioned the fact that they now had more self confidence and this achievement was a good indicator of the high standard education they received at EMC.

The web page prepared by the EMC students takes you on a virtual tour to a Cypriot village house where women are busily engaged in doing their embroidery and listening to music and having wonderful conversation at the same time. Nostalgic atmosphere is created even in this virtual environment. The joyous atmosphere of the past may not be present today as commercial significance outweighs all other aspects; yet despite the hours and months long production, i.e. the movement of the needle, that requires great patience is basically for commercial purposes today, this art will continue to survive forever in Cyprus.

These masterpieces that adorn the walls of houses in different corners of the world have acted as a mediator after years to adorn the walls of the houses of these five students with their championship awards.