The eighth-grade class at the San Miguel School of Tulsa could be driving to Oklahoma City for a class trip or flying to Florida to attend the grand opening of a Harry Potter attraction at Universal Studios.
It all comes down to clicks of a mouse.
The class of 19 students is one of four finalists in NBC’s “Today” show Harry Potter contest. The class with the most online votes by Wednesday will win the trip to the grand opening of the theme park’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
Students were asked to submit videos explaining “why my class is extraordinary.” People can view the four videos online and vote for the class they think deserves to win a trip to Orlando in June.
Anna Sullivan is an eighth-grade math teacher at San Miguel, a Catholic middle school with admission based on education and economic need.
“The amount of responsibility they have is greater than most 14-year-olds,” Sullivan said, adding that many of her students take care of siblings in the evening while parents work, act as translators for older members of the family, and do regular school work. “They don’t complain, they think ‘How can I make this better?’?”
Most students were surprised when they found out they were finalists.
“We’re such a small school. I never thought we’d get in something so big,” said eighth-grader Ilse Enriquez.
Because of the school’s size, the students act more like a family than a class of teenagers, Sullivan said.
“There are no cliques, no one picks on anyone,” she said. “They go to school from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. They’re very close to each other, very respectful of each other.”
Jesus Carvajal started at San Miguel just five months ago and it’s as if he’s gone there all three years.
“I’m kind of new to the school and I already feel a part of it,” the eighth-grader said. “We’re all like a family, we’re all really close.”
Word has been spreading about the contest through the students and faculty, social networking sites like Facebook and other Tulsa Catholic schools.
Roberto Gomez, an eighth-grader at San Miguel, said he’s checked out the competition. “They were actually really good,” he said of the other schools’ videos.
The class will find out if they won the trip on Thursday morning on live TV.
“I’m nervous. The suspense is killing me,” said Gomez, who will take his first ride on an airplane if the school wins. “This is a whole new experience for me. Get a chance to do something I’ll probably not get to do again.”
The class has been making and selling accessories such as bracelets and hair bows to sell to other schools to raise money for their class trip, whether it’s in Florida or at Oklahoma City’s Frontier City.
“We’re proud of it because at least we tried and did our best,” Enriquez said. “To me, that seems like we already won.”
Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/scene/article.aspx?subjectid=371&articleid=20100517_19_0_tablet900760
It all comes down to clicks of a mouse.
The class of 19 students is one of four finalists in NBC’s “Today” show Harry Potter contest. The class with the most online votes by Wednesday will win the trip to the grand opening of the theme park’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
Students were asked to submit videos explaining “why my class is extraordinary.” People can view the four videos online and vote for the class they think deserves to win a trip to Orlando in June.
Anna Sullivan is an eighth-grade math teacher at San Miguel, a Catholic middle school with admission based on education and economic need.
“The amount of responsibility they have is greater than most 14-year-olds,” Sullivan said, adding that many of her students take care of siblings in the evening while parents work, act as translators for older members of the family, and do regular school work. “They don’t complain, they think ‘How can I make this better?’?”
Most students were surprised when they found out they were finalists.
“We’re such a small school. I never thought we’d get in something so big,” said eighth-grader Ilse Enriquez.
Because of the school’s size, the students act more like a family than a class of teenagers, Sullivan said.
“There are no cliques, no one picks on anyone,” she said. “They go to school from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. They’re very close to each other, very respectful of each other.”
Jesus Carvajal started at San Miguel just five months ago and it’s as if he’s gone there all three years.
“I’m kind of new to the school and I already feel a part of it,” the eighth-grader said. “We’re all like a family, we’re all really close.”
Word has been spreading about the contest through the students and faculty, social networking sites like Facebook and other Tulsa Catholic schools.
Roberto Gomez, an eighth-grader at San Miguel, said he’s checked out the competition. “They were actually really good,” he said of the other schools’ videos.
The class will find out if they won the trip on Thursday morning on live TV.
“I’m nervous. The suspense is killing me,” said Gomez, who will take his first ride on an airplane if the school wins. “This is a whole new experience for me. Get a chance to do something I’ll probably not get to do again.”
The class has been making and selling accessories such as bracelets and hair bows to sell to other schools to raise money for their class trip, whether it’s in Florida or at Oklahoma City’s Frontier City.
“We’re proud of it because at least we tried and did our best,” Enriquez said. “To me, that seems like we already won.”
Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/scene/article.aspx?subjectid=371&articleid=20100517_19_0_tablet900760
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