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Around Alone - Essay Contest...
The first component of the Education Initiative was a BTC/BUEI Essay contest. The winners of the essay contest were chosen from their schools and from the BUEI/Youth & Sport After School Programme. They wrote on topics such as: Why I would like to sail with Alan Paris? and Why I think Alan's sail around the world is so important to Bermuda? One of the winners, Megan Diel, wrote, I think Alan's sail is important because it shows that even though Bermuda is small, Bermudians can go off and do big things. All the winners get the opportunity to sail with Alan.
As Alan sailed around the world in the "Around Alone Race" in September 2002, seventeen schools and the BUEI After School programme followed Alan via a special tracking computer program called Virtual Spectator. This allowed teachers to pinpoint Alan's location at any time and challenged the students to discuss decisions that Alan needed to make regarding weather conditions, and other routing considerations. The students also discussed many other details for Alan's trip and communicated with Alan through the BUEI using e-mail and in some cases, voice communications.
Alan was able to visit most of the schools. He visited all of the participating schools and delivered to them large maps donated by the National Geographic which allowed the students to track Alan's position. The students also followed a multi-disciplinary syllabus, which included topics such as marine science and geography. The seventeen participating schools were:
Dellwood Middle School
West Pembroke Primary
Harrington Sound Primary
Warwick Academy
Clearwater Middle School
Elliott Primary
St. David's Primary
Southampton Glebe
Saltus Grammar School
Bermuda High School
Purvis Primary
Victor Scott Primary
Bermuda Christian Academy
Bermuda Institute
Sandy's Middle School
Spice Valley Middle School
Whitney Institute
BUEI/Ministry of Youth and Sport Afte School Programme