The diversity of nations and variety of skills represented by the Cosmos Education team is critical to our strength and effectiveness in the classroom. While fostering a life-long love of learning may have been the team's primary goal, two secondary goals played an integral role in defining the success of our project.
First, our team of volunteers had to be very international representing as much of the globe as possible and as many different cultures as possible. Second, this international team had to demonstrate cooperation and integration to the students we encountered. Cooperation is critical to the future of development and it was essential that we served as role models for the younger generations.
During our 2001 Under African Skies project these goals were thoroughly achieved. Over twelve different nations were represented, including seven different countries from within Africa and one Eastern European country.
In the classroom, students saw members of the Cosmos team working, teaching, and having fun together as we presented a variety of topics. In addition, the young African students saw intelligent and successful Africans giving presentations on difficult topics. Our team-mates from Niger, Burundi, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, Tanzania, and Kenya served as role models for these students. Having such role models enables the student to connect their future with success.
At the end of our presentations, our African and female team mates often devoted time to discussing their history and how they reached their present level of education or profession.
The members chosen for the 2001 Under African Skies team were selected based largely on their academic and professional commitment to international cooperation and the peaceful uses of science and technology.
Due to academic and professional commitments, many team members on the team joined us in Africa for periods of ten days to two weeks (the entire project lasted 40 days). Additionally, several students from the University of Zambia became such valuable and enjoyable assets to our team that we invited them to join us for part of the education expedition after the conference.
During the first week of the expedition our team consisted of twelve people from six different countries. As the dates of the conference approached, our team grew in size and breadth; over thirty people representing thirteen different nations on five continents. For a period of approximately ten days, our team size stayed in the range of 20-30 people. As we headed into Northern Zambia and Tanzania, team size decreased to roughly 15 people. The team remained at this size for the remainder of the expedition. A full list of Cosmos Education team members for 2001 can be found here.
We are currently in the process of assembling our UAS 2003 team. We look for a wide variety of skills - a background in science is certainly not essential. Of critical importance, however, is the ability to work well on a team, under pressure, for long periods of time...without a shower! We camp and cook and life on the road can be quite hard if you don't have the right mindset. If you have the right mindset, however, it's a fantastic experience and every turn is a new adventure.
Due to very limited funding, interested individuals with their own source of funding are much more likely to be chosen as members of the team. We encourage students to explore grant and scholarship opportunities at their colleges and universities. Schools will often have funding opportunities or research opportunities that are well matched to the goals of our work. As a rough estimate, we recommend that individuals try to secure $3000. This would likely cover all expenses - from airfare to food/lodging and a contribution to the truck expenses.
To learn more about Cosmos Education, and how you can get involved, please visit the following links: