Randy Pausch: El profesor que conmovió con su última lección

Recomiendo que lean esta nota, y vean el video de la última charla de Randy Pausch. Quizás sea un poco largo el texto o el video, pero realmente, vale la pena.

*Videos para que ustedes elijan en cuál opción verlo (también pueden bajarlo del Ares, o el programa que utilicen): http://www.cmu.edu/uls/journeys/randy-pausch/index.html

*Nota en la Revista Nueva: http://www.revistanueva.com.ar/numeros/00893/nota/3

*Nota que copié a continuación, de La Nación: http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=1034398&high=randy%20pausch

Randy Pausch, el profesor universitario que conmovió a millones en el mundo con su historia y sus enseñanzas, decía que los obstáculos son positivos. 'Nos dan una chance para demostrar cuánto queremos algo', explicó en su última y magistral clase.' Si en verdad ése es tu objetivo, si en verdad soñás con aquello que parece imposible, superarás los pantanos como sea', dijo.

Pausch falleció el viernes 25 de julio y su historia conmovió a todos. Ni él imaginó la repercusión que obtendría: más de seis millones de personas gozaron ya de su mensaje por Internet y el libro que siguió a su última clase trepó al número uno de su tipo, según la lista de best sellers de The New York Times. Superó con creces su último objetivo: dejarles un mensaje de amor y esperanza a sus tres hijos, su esposa, sus alumnos y sus colegas de la universidad.

¿Quién era Pausch? Un prestigioso profesor de la Universidad Carnegie Mellon, de 47 años, al que le diagnosticaron cáncer terminal en el páncreas. Tenía tres chiquitos de 1, 3 y 6 años. Hasta allí, una historia trágica y común. Pero la vuelta mágica se dio cuando, como a tantos otros docentes en tantas otras universidades, le ofrecieron dar una clase magistral basada en una pregunta: ¿qué enseñarías a tus alumnos, si fuera tu última clase? En su caso, una vivencia tangible.

La conferencia se concretó el 18 de septiembre de 2007. A lo largo de 76 minutos llenos de humor y candidez, repasó su vida, reafirmó su amor por su mujer -a la que incluso sorprendió en el escenario con una torta-, sus padres e hijos y se despidió de mentores y alumnos con gracia y consejos. Hoy puede disfrutarse en Internet (www.cmu.edu/uls/journeys/randy-pausch/index.html) y 10 millones de personas ya lo hicieron en YouTube.

Pausch habló en su última clase sobre la importancia de mantener los sueños infantiles, respetar a quienes nos rodean ('Espera lo suficiente y la gente te sorprenderá e impresionará') y a plantearnos preguntas incómodas.

La primera, cuánto deseamos algo ('Las paredes de ladrillos están allí por una razón. Nos permiten demostrarnos cuánto queremos algo'). La segunda, si fallecieras mañana, ¿cómo te despedirías? ¿Qué les dirías? ¿Qué harías? ¿Qué dejarías de hacer? ¿Por qué no lo has hecho hasta ahora?

Pausch planteó todo eso y más, sin caer en el melodrama ni permitiéndole a nadie que sintiera pena por él. Por el contrario, sazonó todo con ironía: 'Si alguien tiene algún suplemento herbario o remedio alternativo, por favor, manténgase alejado de mí', mientras demostraba la vitalidad que por entonces conservaba arrojándose al piso y a puras flexiones de brazos.

La charla tomó vuelo de manera viral -testigos que lo recomendaron a otros, y estos a terceros-, y mediática, ya que un amigo del columnista de The Wall Street Journal , Jeffrey Zaslow, lo alertó de la conferencia y el periodista manejó 480 kilómetros para verla por el pálpito de que podía tratarse de 'algo grande'. Lo fue y lo sigue siendo.

Todo para sus hijos

La revista Time nombró a Pausch una de las 100 personas del año, y le llovieron mails de personas que le contaban que gracias a él habían superado deseos de suicidio, habían dejado atrás divorcios complicados o historias de maltratos, habían modificado sus prioridades o habían enfrentado sus enfermedades terminales con serenidad.

Con el paso de las semanas, su conferencia mutó en libro gracias a la ayuda del propio Zaslow -que grabó 53 horas de entrevista mientras Pausch pedaleaba por su barrio para mantenerse en forma y, por lo tanto, no podía dedicarles ese tiempo a sus chicos-, y eso le permitió, a su vez, cobrar US$ 6,8 millones para ellos.

Despedido ahora con alabanzas por The New York Times , el Journal , The Washington Post ('Pausch, el profesor que dio la clase de una vida') y cientos de diarios y revistas en este país, Europa y Asia, Pausch dejó en claro en la misma conferencia que su 'última charla' tenía sólo tres destinatarios: Dylan, Logan y Chloe, sus chiquitos.

'Intento ponerme a mí mismo en una botella que algún día aparecerá en la playa para mis hijos', explicó. Por ese mismo objetivo de dejarles recuerdos imborrables, llevó al mayor, Dylan, a nadar con delfines. Sabía que, con apenas 6 años, muy poco es lo que recordaría de él. Pero 'nadar con delfines no es algo que olvidará fácilmente'.

Por eso llevó al segundo, Logan, a Disney y se encargó de 'presentarle' a su héroe, Mickey. También se dio algunos gustos. Se fue a bucear con sus tres mejores amigos, se compró un convertible, se sometió a una vasectomía y pasó todo el tiempo disponible con Jai, su esposa.

Pero lo más difícil fue con Chloe, la pequeña. Le grabó videos con mensajes tan claros como contundentes y llenos de pasión paternal: 'Quiero que crezcas sabiendo que yo fui el primer hombre que se enamoró de vos'.

Para Pausch, la conferencia, el libro y los videos fueron también medios distintos de dejarles constancias de ese amor y del gozo de la vida cotidiana en su formato más sencillo: ellos jugando juntos, leyendo un libro o de él aconsejándole a Chloe cómo reconocer las intenciones de sus futuros pretendientes: 'Prestá atención a lo que hagan, no a lo que te digan'.

Profesor hasta el final, Pausch también consultó a adultos que habían perdido a uno o a ambos padres durante su niñez. Le contaron que encontraban algo de paz al saber cuánto los amó su padre o madre y que cuanto más aprendían de ese amor, más podían sentirlo ahora.

'Los chicos, más que cualesquiera otros, necesitan saber que sus padres los aman', se explicó luego Pausch, mientras se aprestaba para su último gran obstáculo, o 'pared', como él los llamaba. 'Los padres no tienen que estar vivos para que eso ocurra.'

Un mal terminal

·En septiembre de 2007, ante 400 estudiantes, el profesor Randy Pausch dio su última clase en la universidad y reveló su enfermedad terminal.

Legado

·Su clase 'Cumple de verdad tus sueños de la infancia' es un legado a los jóvenes. Fue subida a Internet y tuvo 10 millones de visitas en YouTube.

Best seller

·La revista Time lo consideró entre las 100 personalidades más influyentes del mundo. Su libro La última lección vendió 4,5 millones de ejemplares.

Stress

A lecturer when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked 'How heavy is this glass of water?' Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g. The lecturer replied, 'The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes. 'He continued,' And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy,we won't be able to carry on. ''As with the glass of water,you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden. ''So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can. 'So, my friend, put down anything that may be a burden to you right now. Don't pick it up again until after you've rested a while. Here are some great ways ofdealing with the burdens of life:
* Accept that some days you're the pigeon,and some days you're the statue.
* Always keep your words soft and sweet,just in case you have to eat them.
* Always read stuff that will make you look goodif you die in the middle of it.
* Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can berecalled by their maker.
* If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.
* If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again,it was probably worth it.
* It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply be kind to others.
* Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time,because then you won't have a leg to stand on.
* Nobody cares if you can't dance well.Just get up and dance.
* Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.
* The second mouse gets the cheese.
* When everything's coming your way,you're in the wrong lane.
* Birthdays are good for you.The more you have, the longer you live.
* You may be only one person in the world,but you may also be the world to one person.
* Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
* We could learn a lot from crayons... Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.
*A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour. Have an awesome day and know that someone has thought about you today...I did.

Decálogo del Escritor por Augusto Monterroso

Primero.
Cuando tengas algo que decir, dilo; cuando no, también. Escribe siempre.

Segundo.
No escribas nunca para tus contemporáneos, ni mucho menos, como hacen tantos, para tus antepasados. Hazlo para la posteridad, en la cual sin duda serás famoso, pues es bien sabido que la posteridad siempre hace justicia.

Tercero.
En ninguna circunstancia olvides el célebre díctum: "En literatura no hay nada escrito".

Cuarto.
Lo que puedas decir con cien palabras dilo con cien palabras; lo que con una, con una. No emplees nunca el término medio; así, jamás escribas nada con cincuenta palabras.

Quinto.
Aunque no lo parezca, escribir es un arte; ser escritor es ser un artista, como el artista del trapecio, o el luchador por antonomasia, que es el que lucha con el lenguaje; para esta lucha ejercítate de día y de noche.

Sexto.
Aprovecha todas las desventajas, como el insomnio, la prisión, o la pobreza; el primero hizo a Baudelaire, la segunda a Pellico y la tercera a todos tus amigos escritores; evita pues, dormir como Homero, la vida tranquila de un Byron, o ganar tanto como Bloy.

Séptimo.
No persigas el éxito. El éxito acabó con Cervantes, tan buen novelista hasta el Quijote. Aunque el éxito es siempre inevitable, procúrate un buen fracaso de vez en cuando para que tus amigos se entristezcan.

Octavo.
Fórmate un público inteligente, que se consigue más entre los ricos y los poderosos. De esta manera no te faltarán ni la comprensión ni el estímulo, que emana de estas dos únicas fuentes.

Noveno.
Cree en ti, pero no tanto; duda de ti, pero no tanto. Cuando sientas duda, cree; cuando creas, duda. En esto estriba la única verdadera sabiduría que puede acompañar a un escritor.

Décimo.
Trata de decir las cosas de manera que el lector sienta siempre que en el fondo es tanto o más inteligente que tú. De vez en cuando procura que efectivamente lo sea; pero para lograr eso tendrás que ser más inteligente que él.

Undécimo.
No olvides los sentimientos de los lectores. Por lo general es lo mejor que tienen; no como tú, que careces de ellos, pues de otro modo no intentarías meterte en este oficio.

Duodécimo.
Otra vez el lector. Entre mejor escribas más lectores tendrás; mientras les des obras cada vez más refinadas, un número cada vez mayor apetecerá tus creaciones; si escribes cosas para el montón nunca serás popular y nadie tratará de tocarte el saco en la calle, ni te señalará con el dedo en el supermercado.

El autor da la opción al escritor de descartar dos de estos enunciados, y quedarse con los restantes diez.

Prevención de accidentes

Los accidentes constituyen la primera causa de muerte en niños mayores de un año y representan una importante causa de que personas se enfermen, dejando secuelas y erogación de recursos. Se dispone de cifras de mortalidad por accidentes y de registros de internados, pero los datos de todos los pacientes lesionados son difíciles de registrar, lo que da a entender que no son las verdaderas muertes solo las que se publican…sino muchas mas…

Para prevenir este verdadero problema se hace necesario conocer sus características, pues las estrategias de prevención difieren considerablemente según la clase de accidentes, los sitios de ocurrencia o los grupos de edades parecidas involucrados y no resultan útiles las campañas preventivas que intentan abarcar simultáneamente a todo tipo de accidentes..No son suficientes…hay que persuadir la población para que cada uno empiece desde su lugar a hacer de la calle un lugar seguro para todos.

Cada Año es como si el boliche Cromagnon se incendiara una vez por semana. Y se explica: por día hay 60 choques en Tucumán y 30 víctimas mortales en el país, y el Estado gasta 5.000 millones de dólares anuales para atender a los heridos. El director de Emergentología, Juan Masaguer, habla de las “muertes por gotera”, esto es, los decesos que se producen varios días después de los accidentes, y que no quedan contabilizados en la estadística.
Como estamos amortiguados, poco nos sorprenden las cifras, que sí las viven los que atienden las emergencias, porque presencian a diario el dolor y la tragedia. Al común de la gente le sorprenden los crímenes y las peleas, pero no advierte la desproporción entre la violencia criminal y la violencia en el tránsito.

Para que vos o tu familia no pasen por esto acordate siempre..

*Usa SIEMPRE el cinturón de seguridad

*Los niños SIEMPRE en el aciento de atrás

*Si tomaste no conduzcas

*Respeta las señales de trancito

*Usa Casco…te puede salvar la vida!

Si Queremos una provincia mejor…empezemos nosotross!

Micael Quiroga Gomez 2ºB

My Shrink Says ... Blog!

By Jessica Bennett NEWSWEEK
Jun 30, 2008 Issue

Why do people write confessional blogs? It's a creative outlet. It's a forum to vent. It's an exercise in exhibitionism. To mental-health experts, though, it's more than that: a blog is medicine. Psychiatrists are starting to tout the therapeutic power of blogging, and many have begun incorporating it into patient treatment. A forthcoming study in the journal CyberPsychology & Behavior even suggests that bloggers might be happier than nonbloggers.

Mental-health experts say blogs are a step up from plain old diaries, chiefly because of the built-in audience. As kids, we learn that if we air our problems, we get help. We associate communication with consolation, particularly when the going gets tough. Blogging fulfills that primal need for sympathy. "Writing is an effort of the brain to communicate for comfort," says Harvard neurologist Alice Flaherty. "Diaries are a form of that communication, but removed. Blogging gets you closer to that sympathetic audience, and that's what makes it therapeutic." According to psychologist John Suler, the anonymity of blogging provides another therapeutic boost: it's high intimacy with low vulnerability. But blogger beware. "Revealing too much," says Suler, "can cause shame or guilt." So blog to your heart's content, but leave some things to the imagination.

His mind is what I am today

Have you ever asked why we think as we think today, and why the world is organized as it is organized today? What is the origin of all the thoughts that we have in our mind? The world is like a vast lock, full of mysteries, and philosophy is the key that reveals the mysteries of existence and reality to us. It tries to discover the nature of truth and knowledge, and which are the basic values and the importance in life. It also examines the relationship between humanity and nature, and between the individual and society. Philosophy increases inside us curiosity, and the desire to know and understand. It is just a process of analysis, criticism, interpretation, and speculation. What we see today with our eyes is the result of our intelligence. Socrates was the first person who put human beings in the center of his thoughts. He has not written anything; however he has left his footprints in the European’s civilization, and has inspired during almost 2.500 years the Western countries’ thinkers.
The pre-Socratics were the first Greek philosophers. Their name comes from the fact that most of them lived before Socrates’ birth. They were mainly interested in the nature and source of the Universe. These philosophers saw the Universe as a set of connected phenomena, for which thoughts and doubts could find an explanation. The importance of pre-Socratics lies not in the truth of their answers, but in the fact that they examined the questions in the first place. This has inspired and influenced on later philosophers such as Socrates.
This great philosopher of the Ancient period was born in Athens, between 470 and 469 B.C. His father, Sophroniscus, was a sculptor and his mother, Phaenarete, was a mid-wife. He acquired the traditional culture of good families, and finished his military obligations, in which participated in important battles. In his youth, he was fascinated by the philosophy of nature, but as he could not find any coherent explanation to define its existence, he started his investigations putting human beings in the center of his thoughts. He dedicated his life to the analysis of human’s intelligence, and the field of ethics. Socrates also tried to get a precise view of some abstract ideas, such as knowledge, virtue, justice and wisdom.
Athens was in that moment the cultural life of Greece. It was developing a democracy in which the only condition was that its inhabitants receive good education. As consequences, a wide group of professors and errant philosophers, known as sophists, arrived to Athens. The sophists believed in relativism, and they were paid for their teachings.These principles were against what a philosopher shoul be for Socrates. For him, a philosopher is the one that admits that he knows few things and that is constantly looking for wisdom; and in fact, he was someone like this.
Socrates employed most of his life having conversations with Athenians in public places, such as streets and parks. He used a method as a tool of his teaching, which is known as the “Socratic method”.It consisted in making simple questions to different people, and Socrates pretending to know nothing.This was called Socratic irony.But through the conversation, he started to make people realize their wrong thoughts and their lack of knowledge.He made them think and formulate better answers.This method was also related to his mother’s profession; it was said that while Socrates’ mother helped to give birth to babies, Socrates gave birth to new ideas. For him, the true knowledge comes from inside each individual.
Because of that, Socrates used to say that there was a divine voice inside him that tells him what is right and what is wrong. His correct personality led him to contract lots of enemies as he left in ridicule those people that had a conversation with him. Generally, those people were politicians, artists, and merchants. Most of them were of high position in the society and were considered wise people. In 399 B.C., he was accused of corrupting the minds of the youth of Athens, and was poisoned in the same year. He would have saved his life if he had admitted that his thoughts were wrong, but he never gave up. He continued teaching to his disciples up to the last minute of his breath.
Athens was like an apathetic brawny horse, whereas Socrates was the odious fly trying to wake it up and keep it alive.His spirited and rational thoughts were the origin of most of Western people’s beliefs. He should be the desire of each individual; to have a critical and personal point of view towards every situation, and to defend it with arguments. This helps us to learn something which is discussed and analized by our own mind, and not repeat as a parrot the pre-fabricated answers or possible solutions; because what we think is what we are.
Eliana Li

Endangered species

We know about and can give names to about one millon animals; but, what we are unaware of, is that there are more than thirty million species of animals in the world. Every year, some of these species dissapear and we never see them again. But with thirty million different species, do one or two matter?
When discussing the causes of endangerment, it is important to understand that species are not the only ones involved in this dilemma. Our planet is continually changing, causing habitats to be altered and modified. However, when changes occur at a fast pace, there is little or no time for species to react and adjust to new circumstances. This can create disastrous results, and for this reason, rapid habitat loss is the primary cause of species endangerment. However, exotic species may also modify the ecological balance, and may produce an excess of unwanted, harmful consequences. The worst of these consequences became noticed when introduced species put native species at risk, by preying on them. This can alter the natural habitat, and can cause a bigger competition for food. Diseases, as well as pollution, are other factors that threaten lots of plant and animal species. For example, the rabies virus is presently destroying carnivore populations in Africa. Domestic animals often transmit the diseases that affect wild populations, demonstrating again how human activities are the beginning of most causes of animal endangerment. Pollution has seriously affected most of the terrestrial and aquatic species, such as penguins in the South Pole, where contamination is due to petrol ships, which drop their waste on polar cold waters; or Baji dolphins in China, who hit their heads on big ships, because of the litter thrown into the Yangtze River.
According to a Harvard biologist, Edward O. Wilson, 20 percent of the world's species will be extinct by 2030. As a consequence of this, many countries are starting to be aware of the critical situation, and they are working to help save endangered animals from extinction. There are organizations, such as Greenpeace, which try to make people aware of the problems that wild animals are facing nowadays. Some of the ways in which they are being saved include: habitat protection, captive breeding, and setting up nature reserves and parks. The first national parks opened more than a hundred years ago. One of the first ones was Gran Paradiso National Park in Italy, as well as Yosemite and Yellowstone in North America. In addition to those ways of saving endangered species, using alternative products, in place of products from rare animals, may also be included. For example, whale oil. The first principal use of whale oil (which is a liquid wax and not a true oil), was as an illuminant in lamps and as candle wax. However, with the 1986 International Whaling Commission, commercial whaling was banned, and whale oil has all but ceased to be viable. For most of its uses, jojoba oil, produced out of the seed of the jojoba (a shrub native to southern Arizona, southern California and northwestern Mexico), works well as a substitute. Governments are also helping, by making international agreements between countries to protect animals, such as the blue whale, indiscriminately hunted in Antartica. Scientists are installing gene banks, in which they keep an animal's genetic material. This technique may make it possible in the future to create a new animal of the same species, in a faster way, and it will also be possible to ensure the continuity of the species. Besides the work the government and the organizations are doing to preserve nature, we can all do something to help. We protect animals by protecting the natural world. We could start by leaving natural homes for small animals and birds (trees, flowers, among others), and use the bicycle more frequently, instead of polluting the air with cars. We could also promote the construction of more national parks, and the prohibition of zoos, for most of them are in bad conditions and are not intersted in helping animals, but presenting them as simple touristic attractions, in order to gain money. Another important thing might be to lower, or stop the usage of animal skin coats. Times are changing, and people feel differently about endangered species. Using a coat from a dead animal is not beautiful nowadays, when you know that so many species are dissappearing progressively.
Finally, it is important to mention that animals make the world a richer place, a more interesting and a more beautiful place for us to live in. Animals help us in many important ways. They give us meat to eat and milk to drink. In addition to this, scientists also learn from animals, and this helps them to understand people. We change things in our world quickly, but animals do it very slowly. People and animals live in one world. Our land is their land; our trees are their trees; our rivers are their rivers. We must protect animals from dissapearing, because at the same time we are protecting our world.

MEDARDO BENITEZ

CHANGES AT SAINT PATRICK'S

Sofía and Lourdes are rushing through the hallway because they have to be on time for a meeting. They represent First Polimodal in the Student Council’s meetings. School Week is near and there must be lots of activities to organize. They are only two of the representatives of each grade. There they will discuss and give ideas.
This Student Council was created last year when a new system was implemented at school. Now Third Polimodal students aren’t the only ones who make all the decisions, now they take into account all the students’ ideas and opinions. This gives the events that they organize a new sense and meaning. Those events consist of ceremonies and different perfomances, including School Week.
One example is the Student’s Day celebration they organized last year. It consisted of dividing the school into three different groups, determined by three colours (red, blue and yellow). Every student had to wear a t-shirt with the colour of their group. Every grade had to design a game to be played by the rest of the students. That day, school dressed in those three colours, we could see students and teachers playing and having fun. We all ended up eating cakes and dancing! It was a really nice activity because all the school was there, sharing a different atmosphere in the same building where we study every day. That afternoon, everyone would go home talking about the great time they had spent.
This organization method is implemented in lots of schools but at Saint Patrick’s it hadn’t work. It has never been an option to change the system that students had been using all these years, but last year a new project came up. With everyone’s help it was implemented and it have had a positive impact. It was really difficult to propose this kind of change but we received everyone’s support. Now, students feel they are being listened to and they like that, whereas before no one cared about their opinions, something that negatively affected the organization of all the events, especially School Week.
School Week consists of usually three days of activities such as sports tournaments and different competitions, which includes futbol, volleyball and rugby games. In the morning these activities are only for our school students, but in the afternoon several other invited schools participate. In the evening there are shows such as Choreography Night and Concerts. Every year this was all the same and students got bored.
Over the years, monotony became a problem, since students didn’t like the activities that were planned so they weren’t willing to participate. This situation has remained but this time is expected to be different. As a consequence of the new system, everyone gives and propose ideas and activities that are interesting for them and their classmates. In that way, they can have a good time participating in acitivities they have proposed, and not in activities in which they are pushed to do things they don’t like.
Another consequence of this plan is the better relationship the younger and the older students have now, something that hardly ever happened before. Also the idea of one school is starting to develop among teachers and students, wich is very important because they spend most of their time at school and they need to be in a place where they feel comfortable.
In conclusion, we all have been part of a change, a really good one. All of this hasn’t been only for a better School Week, but to create a better concept of school, one which isn’t only study and homework. This time, School Week will be just another good consequence of the work done by all the students and all the group work they have done.

Here are some pictures about last year School Week. There, only Third Polimodal was in charge of making all the decisions and the organization. The other pictures are about the Student’s Day Celebration, which was organized by Student Council with members from all the grades.

Sports at Saint Patrick's School Week.


























Choreography night.


























Students Day Celebration.

The Student Council also organized a camp and invited all the students to spend the night at school. It was the first time something like this was organized. We all had a great time together.

Primera Salida a Tafí del Valle

Los alumnos de 3º de polimodal de ambas divisiones viajaron a Tafi del Valle el dia jueves 17 de abril. El objetivo de la salida era conocer la planta de clasificación de residuos del Mollar y realizar una tarea de limpieza comunitaria. Los profesores que los acocmpañaron fueron, Alejandra Barea , Silvina Denegri, Alejandra Torres, María Marta Albornoz, Jane Hayman y Silvia Sánchez.

En la planta de clasificación recibieron una charla del gerente de la misma Señor Roberto Zonca, que les explicó cuales fueron los beneficios de la planta para el valle , cuales eran las dificultades operativas de la misma y les habló tambien de los precios de los distintos subproductos de los residuos que ellos clasifican.

Después de la charla y de observar el funcionamiento de la planta los alumnos encargados de hacer los videos de concientización realizaron entrevistas a operarios de la misma y al Sr. Zonca.

Todo el grupo almorzó en la plaza de El Mollar, y luego se dirigió a la rotonda de entrada al Lago la Angostura para iniciar una tarea de limpieza del perilago y de la ruta hasta la zona de la entrada del cementerio. Se llenaron en esta actividad 50 bolsas de consorcio de residuos!

Luego transitamos con los ómnibus por la villa para ver en qué lugares se emplazarían las “islas ecológicas” para selección de residuos que estan diseñando los alumnos.

Finalmente concluímos con nuestra actividad con una merecida merienda en El Blanquito, desde donde partimos con destino a Tucumán a las 17 horas.

Diego Parravicini '97: Legum Magister in Colorado, USA

Last May, Diego Parravicini '97 graduated from the University of Denver (DU) as Legum Magister in Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy. Diego first became a lawyer at UNT and went to Colorado for grad school. His future looks as bright as his academic accomplishments.

For the time being, he will stay in Denver where he is still part of some DU projects and, over the summer (June through September), he will be working for a Law Firm specialized in Environmental Law. Only after that shall we have Diego back in Argentina.

About his time in the US, Diego says he has just had one of the best experiences in his life. At DU, apart from grad school, he was a Teaching Assistant, a position usually offered to the best qualified grad students. He also travelled widely around the country and made tons of friends in the host culture. "Siempre pienso en lo importante que fue el inglés del colegio para lograr objetivos como el que logré. Yo estuve seis años sin estudiar inglés -los años que me tomó la carrera de abogacía en la UNT. Volví a agarrar los libros para rendir el TOEFL y no me costó nada. Es que la base que da el colegio es excelente en ese sentido."

With Dad (top) and Mom (here) on Graduation Day. All of us at St Patrick's share their pride at Diego's graduation. Congratulations, Jefe!

IB Diploma Programme

In my article I've tried to share the information I have about the International Baccalaureate and its Diploma Programme, and everything I have been experiencing with the purpose of encouraging young entrepreneurs to immerse themselves in this amazing syllabus.

The International Baccalaureate was founded in Geneva, Switzerland in 1968 with the original purpose of making it easy for students to prepare for university by teaching them some sort of curricula recognized by them. Nowadays the programme has been applied in 128 countries all over the world with 2.319 IB schools and more than 616.000 students.

In Argentina there are forty-three schools teaching the IB Diploma Programme. In the north-west area of the country there are only two, ‘Colegio Santa Rosa’ in Salta and ‘Colegio San Patricio’ Yerba Buena, Tucumán, where I attend.

For the school to be authorized as an IB member, it has to go through a process based on two phases which may take two or more years. San Patricio was authorized in 1988 and the programme is taught by teachers that have developed the IB profile through courses the IBO offers regularly and on the Internet. They can also become exam moderators or workshop leaders.

The International Baccalaureate Diploma is a two year curriculum aimed at 16-19 year old students; it is worldly recognized by the most important universities, in Argentina around forty universities do recognize it. During the learning process students are not only taught facts but to think on their own and develop their own judgement.

The curriculum consists of the study of six areas of knowledge represented in this hexagon:

Apart from the six major subjects you’re also required to send an extended essay, theory of knowledge monography, and a creativity, action and service (CAS) paper.
Towards the end of the programme the students sitting for Diploma are assessed in nearly all subjects, both internally by school teachers whose mark is then overseen by other teachers around the globe; and externally in which student are evaluated by international IB teachers from abroad or works are sent out f the country to be corrected by foreign teachers.

For further information visit the official website:

www.ibo.org/diploma

I have had some problems in the past to decide whether I should study the IB Diploma programme or not. It was pretty hard for me to arrive at the right decision by myself, so I decided I had better do some serious research; first at school with teachers and with other students. I also looked up information on the internet. But research would not make my decision any easier, for I had a personal experience missing, either positive or negative about the educational offer.

I finally concluded I should sit for the exams, but it was not any easy for me to decide if I should do it or not, that motioned me to write this article and try to encourage people to do it too. It is true, sometimes people are afraid of ‘the unknown’, and they decline doing new activities because they ignore and prefer not to explore what they don’t really know. Another impulse I felt at the moment of writing this article was the necessity to share the experience I am going trough, and maybe try to convince young kids, just like me, to take a chance, make the effort and go through this wonderful experience I am going through today, which I will never forget.

It is true though that if you sign up for the programme you will have to dedicate most of your time to the six subjects you will sit for. It is also true that someday soon that hard work will pay off because you will realize you have learnt to think, and you will have widened your mind.

The Diploma Programme is one of the best investments you can ever make concerning your education; GET READY TO TAKE THE NEXT STEP, a whole fresh new start, UNIVERSITY, feel how great it is to have some important foundations to start that new scary phase in your life.
For the last two months of my life, I have been working within the programme, I have noticed how different and better the education I was receiving was, and how some day it will surely make a difference.


SOME USEFUL TIPS:

• Do not ever feel incapable; you’re always a lot more capable than what you give yourself credit for.

• Bear in mind you will have to take great responsibility of managing your times. Use it as well as you can. That’s the key to get things done.

• Last but by far not least, DON’T EVER GIVE UP!!! Just keep trying, and you’ll always find the way to success!!!

GUILLERMO FUENSALIDA -- http://www.elbote91.blogspot.com/

Living university life

Living on a university campus is an exciting experience for every college student. The variety of people, interest and activities available make campus life very rich, fun and educating. University campuses often offer a wide variety of facilities and services for the students and teachers living and working there. I could experience this amazing new world in the summer at Florida International University (F.I.U.) in Miami, and I surprisingly discovered many benefits and people that made my experience incredible.In the first place, I was extremely impressed by this new world with a wide variety of people living, studying and working on campus. People of different ages, gender, countries, religions, cultures and backgrounds were all mixed up in this intellectual environment. I was able to share with people from all around the globe in my English classes; I had classmates from Lebanon, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, China, Korea, Russia, Kuwait, France and many other different countries. As I was in communications classes with this people with different nationalities, I learned much about other cultures and ways of living that are totally different from mine. What probably helped me most in understanding others’ points of view, was that i observed that some of the people around me where happy with their own conception of the world, and the fact of being different to others made them even happier, since they were able to look at those who surrounded them with acceptance and respect. Living around so many different people was an enticing experience, as I could learn to be open minded to many different opinions and customs. The intercommunication with this people with such a different perception of the world helped me define myself and my identity.
Living on campus has another great benefit: being in contact with people with a lot of intellectual potential. Universities are often the spot where the most privileged minds can be found. For example, my grammar teacher was multilingual; he could speak six languages perfectly: English, Spanish, French, Italian, German and Portuguese. He was even able to understand a bit of Russian and Japanese. At FIU I looked up information about the schools in the university and the degrees and graduate masters they offered to students, and I read about important people that had studied there and been very successful after graduating. This opened my appetite for learning and extending my horizons.
The huge variety of people on a campus with specific interests, results in the existence of many varied activities, clubs and groups. Sororities are a popular form of organization within universities. There people join to achieve a certain goal and help each member on their way to it. Many clubs can be found on campus: literary group, chess club, math club, among others. Other popular activities available on campus include sports championships (soccer, football, basketball etc.); tango and salsa lessons, religious groups could also be found, where students join to share ideas about religion. There were so many activities on campus and so little time I could only attend to some of them, like the FIU soccer championship, where me and my girlfriends went to cheer up for our classmates’ team.
My recent experience on campus was as fun and enriching as it could possibly be. Not only did I define my identity and personality, but I could also learn to be respectful and open-minded to every opinion. The knowledge and experience I got with so many different people is something invaluable that I am very grateful I could get. The intellectual environment I experienced increased my ambition and desire to always make the most out of every situation. University campus life was the most exciting experience I have ever lived and something I would definitely want to do in the near future.

Creativity is the capacity that allows us to create new things, reach new conclusions and solve problems in original ways. It is the creation of an idea or concept which is new, original, useful and which satisfies the creator and other people. It is the basic principle for the improvement of individual intelligence and for the progress of society, for natural evolution. So this is something essential and natural for us. But, why don’t we develop it or give it the importance it deserves? In my opinion creativity is really necessary and important for society to move forward.

Firstly, by developing creativity we get to know ourselves more. To know what we are good at and in which areas we have more skills. To be original is important nowadays, especially in this society where the majority go to the same places, wear the same clothes, express in the same way and have similar ways of living and where T.V. programmes and the media show the same lifestyle. Society needs people with different interests such as arts, education, technology, laws, public places, money, government and so forth. In this way it can develop and be a better place for everyone. Some specialists say that the most powerful countries in the future will be the ones with a creative class, people who use creativity a lot in their jobs, and it can be used in every job.

To develop creativity is possible, natural and essential. We are all born with a creative capacity which can later be developed or not. Creativity is reached with imagination and fantasy, getting out of routine and conformity and its aim is to create things beyond reality. So everything around us has been a product of creativity: books, TV programmes, political programmes, furniture, fashion, music and even life styles. Everything begins with an idea.

There are many techniques to develop creativity such are: mental maps, brainstorming, creative solution of problems, relaxation, creation through images, theatre and art. Through art, for example, you have to face the blank page. The first times it is uncomfortable and it seems difficult, but after a few times you come up with ideas more naturally and easily. In theatre, you have to put yourself in the role of other person and have to behave and think like them, so you concretely walk in somebody else’s shoes, have another point of view and think in a different way.

Brainstorm

There are different conditions that are needed for creativity to be developed. Firstly, a person needs to have time alone, time to think, to be able to create: studies show that imaginative inspiration is more likely to happen in journeys by train or bus or ... at the bathroom! Places where state of concentration is easily reached and fantasy and imagination can expand. Secondly, acceptance and respect are important, there is a theory that says that three aspects condition creativity: the society, the area or discipline and the creator (person who makes the change). Social groups evaluate the ideas, different kinds of society limit or expand creativity of its members and in this way they develop their identity, their tradition.

The project to develop creativity for a social cause could begin at schools, with education. For example, in other countries, such as U.S.A., schools offer courses such as photography, art, fashion design and theatre, subjects in which creativity can be developed. But in Argentina the education curriculum includes the basic subjects and nothing more. In the case of our school we have more chances to develop our creativity than other Argentinian schools because we have the freedom to do activities such as plays, photography contests, taking part in a Student Council and we also have the possibility to do the IB programme. Through the Student Council we develop creativity organizing activities to pursue all our objectives such as a great recreative school week. And the IB programme makes us independent thinkers. In this way we are not easily cheated or influenced and we are more unique.

To conclude, I believe creativity is really necessary nowadays for us and for our society, so we should begin to develop it and give it the importance it deserves. Also education plays a very important role in this so we, Argentinians, should include it in education curricula so all the people get to know themselves more, make the population more diverse and for our society to be developed.

Girls preparing decoration for a party, one of the activities that school lets us do and in which we can develop creativity

Art classroom at school

Girls from the school dancing