Meet the Winners from the Fake News Contest

Earlier this month, PenPals from around the world joined the PenPal Schools Fake News Contest to celebrate April Fools Day by helping prevent the spread of fake news.

Meet the winners from the Fake News Contest, Isaac, Yasmin, Isabella, and Paty from the Dominican Republic and Caydaruus from Somaliland! These students were recognized by their peers and the PenPal Schools team for their outstanding, informative projects! ​

Isaac, Yasmin, Isabella, and Paty worked as a group to create a powerpoint presentation and table display warning others about fake news.

VIEW PRESENTATION

We asked these winners to share more about their experience creating this project.

PenPal Schools: Tell us a bit about the project you created! What inspired you? Did you face any challenges as you created your project?
Yasmin: The project we created was a bit distinct we created a power point to know how to spot fake news, and we created a poster of a fake news as an example. So that people could believe it is real but added the characteristics of a fake news. The only challenge that we faced was the management of time while doing it.
Isabella: The project is about identifying and creation a fake new. What inspired me was how interesting is the topic and that we can learn to compare and discard some fraudulent information around us. A challenge that we face was the creation of the fake new , because we needed to developed an idea that could sound reliable.

What is one thing you hope other students takeaway or learn from your project?
Isaac: I hope our project serves its purpose and help others avoid fake news. We hope others can learn from this and work on their own projects to help others.
Paty: To stop giving and receiving fake news.
Isabella: I would like other students to learn how to manage and control the information that is around us to understand and assimilate what happens in the world.
Yasmin: We hope other students take was with this project that if you give it all you can be able to achieve your goals. Especially if you put creativity and work as a team everything is possible.

Their project was informative and dynamic, including a powerpoint presentation that their shared with a link and a photo of their table display when they shared their work within their schools. Make sure you check out the incredible graphic they created to help you remember how to avoid fake news!

The other winning project from the Fake News Contest is by Caydaruus from Somaliland.

Caydaruus did a great job of describing why fake news spreads and empowering his peers to prevent the spread of fake news. He also created a clear list of steps that you can take to determine if an article is fake or not.

PenPal Schools: Tell us a bit about the project you created! What inspired you? Did you face any challenges as you created your project?
Caydaruus: I was inspired by my teacher. However,the challenge that I have faced that the time was very short.

What is one thing you hope other students takeaway or learn from your project?
Caydaruus: I hope that other students will learn many thoughtful strategies that can help them have a better understanding about the fake news.I also hope my project is going to be a good mobilization for not just the student but for everyone else around the world.

We caught up with all of the Fake News Contest winners to learn more about their experience learning with PenPals!

What is the most interesting or surprising thing you learned from PenPals?
Yasmin: I learned many different cultures and how every community id distinct in there own way. I also learned how to communicate better.
Isabella: Is surprising the topics of interest that PenPals public to let students express and that majority of them are related to culture.
Paty: That you can actually learn same topics with other kids worldwide
Isaac: My favorite thing about PenPals (and what I found most interesting) is that you get to work and interect with other students around the world.
Caydaruus: The most interesting thing that I learned from Penpals is that is the best online online site that you can ever share others about your personal thoughts on a variety of topics.

Why do you think it's important to learn with students from around the world?
Caydaruus: I think it is important to learn with students from around the world,because learning with many students can give you the privilege of understanding and viewing things in different angles.
Isaac: We learn a lot from people who live in different countries because we learn about their culture and their livelihood.
Paty: To share different cultures, experiences, and ideas.
Isabella: With this method students can learn about things that are not in their normal environment , they can relate with new cultures and understand the opinion or points of view that other people might have.
Yasmin: I believe it is important because we can learn new methods from each other and begin to socialize more. PenPals is something that I enjoyed doing very much. To me it was astonishing reading others comments and reading how there communities are.

How did you feel when you found out you won the contest?
Yasmin: I felt very proud and I couldn't believe we won a contest that was worldwide.
Isabella: It is extremely satisfying to found out that a project you create with hard work and effort was selected from others to help or be know by students all around the world.  
Paty: I felt really good but I couldn’t do ANYTHING without Isabella, Isaac, and Yasmín
Isaac: I was happy and excited. I didn't expect we would win so it was really shocking to see we won.
Caydaruus: It was truly both inspirational and emotional for me. Hearing about this wonderful success made me cheerful.

What advice do you have for students who are new to PenPal Schools?
Caydaruus: All I Would say is keep the good work and follow your dreams.
Yasmin: My advice is to analyze the question well, have fun doing it, and when there is a contest try your best because you never know.
Isabella: Try to investigate about other countries commenting your questions because the ones who respond are the people who live in the reality you want to explore.
Paty: Always give your best, always. Be the example kids want to follow.
Isaac: Students that are new to PenPals should keep in mind that the most important thing is to learn from others and have fun!

Congratulations again to Caydaruus, Yasmin, Isabella, Isaac, and Paty! Thank for being such great PenPals!

There are contest happening every month on PenPal Schools! Right now, your students can join the Earth Day Impact Challenge!

Happy PenPal-ing!

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