(Interview By: Maggie Noakes)
At times like this, the interviewer gets more nervous than those being interviewed. To start from the beginning, I, the interviewer, was assigned the task of quizzing the high school STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) class on recent projects.
Upon arriving at the classroom, the students had just seated themselves and some looked nervous or suspicious when I asked their classmates to step out of the room to answer a few questions. There being only four students in the STEM class, it took but a few minutes.
I had five questions on the group activities that had happened prior to my visitation; all rather simple. That is what I thought before I started asking the questions.
The first person I interviewed was my brother, so that was pretty easy. “Hey, can I just grab Liam for a few questions?” I had asked after approaching the classroom door. I took him into the hallway and sat on the floor to write. First I asked him his age and name along with his grade. The results were “Liam Noakes, sixteen years of age, grade eleven.” The next question was a little trickier. “What has your favorite project been so far?” He then proceeded to tell me that his class had only really done one project, he was also the only one to mention that, but said that he was excited to start the next project. “Rocket cars.” He stated as his favorite. “Okay, and how did you make the rocket cars?” I asked. “Well, you stick an engine inside of it, use wheel axles to hold it in, put decals on it, and shoot it off.” We both laughed at this response and continued onto the next question. “How well do you think you and your team worked with each other?” “It could have been better,” he said simply. “It wasn’t the best.” Now Liam was teamed with Kyle Colgan, our next interviewee. “And what did you think about the other team; were they challenging to beat?” “Yes, they worked well together.” For the fifth question, he had nothing to add to his answers and was thus released into the wild, also known as a classroom full of teenage boys.
Going back to the room, I asked Kyle Colgan to step out and answer the same questions. After getting permission to use his full name, he answered his age and grade, the answers came out, “Fifteen years of age, grade nine.” “And what has your favorite project been?” Since our previous subject informed me that they had only done one project, the answer was bound to be “Cardboard boats.” and that it was. Kyle went on to explain what the class had done to make the boats. “Simply cardboard and duct tape,” he said. He didn’t add much more but it was made clear that the process included folding cardboard into a boat-like shape and covering it in duct tape for protection. We quickly finished up the interview with his answers to the last questions. “How well did you and your team work together?” “Pretty good.” was the plain answer. Seeing how it was clear nobody wanted elaboration, I asked him the final question, “How do you feel about the other team? Were they challenging to beat?” “Yes.” There being nothing more Kyle wanted to add, he went back to the classroom and the next person was sent out.
The second to last student was Nate Rupert, age sixteen, grade eleven, and teamed with Luke Filep. He too stated that his favorite project was the cardboard boats and explained how they were folded and taped to be sent into the water, carrying a team mate. “We duct taped them, put them in the pond, and rode them.” It was amusing, picturing high school students sitting in cardboard and duct tape boats floating in the middle of the pond. “How well do you think you and your teammate worked together?” I asked, my nervousness increasing due to social awkwardness and self consciousness of how slowly I was writing. “Very good.” he firmly told me, showing a confidence in his answer that the other two had not shown. It is interesting how humans look at themselves and think that they did not work well with other people and how others think the exact opposite. “And what about the other team?” I simply asked, not thinking any detail was necessary. “Mm, not so much.” Nate admitted. Once more, with nothing to add, he went back to the classroom and sent out the final person to be questioned.
Luke Filep, age sixteen, grade eleven, and teamed with Nate Rupert, concluded the interview series. Even though I had asked the questions three times before, I was still afraid of messing up and writing the wrong answer or getting the questions in the wrong order. My fears were confirmed later on in the questioning. Like the other two, Luke explained the construction of the cardboard boats and the process thereafter; none, however, explained that the gym teacher was to ride in one of these cardboard boats; at least not that I have recorded. To move on, I asked the next question which was, “How well do you think you and your team worked together?” “Very well.” This is where my social skills argued with my brain and my brain lost. “How hard was the other team?” He looked down at me, rather confused until I heard the record scratch in my head. “What?” He asked. “I mean how hard were they to beat; on a scale of one to ten?” it was however, a relief to know that I was not the only one tripping over my words if we point back to the lake-pond. “Oh,” he said and finished up with, “they didn’t sail their boat so...one out of ten.” We both laughed and having nothing to add, the panic inducing review had come to a close.
I am sure that I was more nervous than everyone combined but that is okay because what fun would the ride be if there weren’t a few downs in the roller coaster of life? This gives everyone something to laugh about as well as the outcome of four students working together in teams and a little about what they think of each other as teams. Of course challenge and rivalry is fun, but like all good things, it must come to a close. I hope that this story brought giggles but a little bit of seriousness with it as this shows how self conscious we can be and how others feel about the connection between teammates.
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