Hello fellow Udacians!

Are you undecided which high school challenge team to join? There are an awful lot of options out there, but most of them seem to be pretty similar. I'm Russell Kaplan, and together with my classmate Jemma Issroff am leading Team NYC.

For every unit you complete as a part of Team NYC, you help raise money for the education of impoverished students.

You read that correctly! All you have to do is join our team, and all of your completed units will help us earn money for students unable to afford an education they desperately desire. We are partnering with http://theschoolfund.org/, a charity that provides money to students in need, giving them access to an education they would otherwise be unable to have. Check out their website and read some of the descriptions of students' situations to see what kind of obstacles we can help these students overcome.

"But how is this possible?! I can simply join your team and by doing so, help pay for education for students in need?"

That's right! You know how in a readathon or walkathon, you find friends and family willing to sponsor you, agreeing to donate money to charity based on how many books you read or how many miles you walk? We're doing just that, but with Udacity units instead of books or miles. My co-leader and I have gone out and found several sponsors willing to contribute $1 per unit for each unit that Team NYC completes. This means that the more people who join Team NYC and complete units (or have already completed units), the more money we raise for the education of students in need.

Right now, we have 7 sponsors, all donating $1 per unit (although some have requested caps in case our team goes viral and they owe thousands of dollars). The average cost of an education for one year of schooling on The School Fund is around $200-$300. Guess what that means? For roughly every 35 units we complete as a team, another underprivileged student gets access to a year's worth of education.

This is what Udacity is all about.

Like Udacity, we care about democratizing access to education. Unfortunately, some people don't even have access to the computers and internet connectivity we take for granted to utilize these online resources. It is this group of students, the ones passionate about learning but hindered by poverty and circumstance, that The School Fund caters to. We here at Team NYC hope to make a difference, but we need your help.

Although you don't have to find sponsors yourself to help our team raise money for students in need, all of our team members are encouraged to do so! If you can get your parents, your relatives, your teachers, or your friends to sponsor our team too, in addition to the sponsors we already have, we'll be able to send more kids to school. We recommend asking your sponsors to pledge donations by the unit, either for the units you personally have completed, or for the team's total. $1 / unit is by no means mandatory, we're just trying to raise as much as we can! The School Fund offers an easy online mechanism for collecting group donations, if you're curious about how we'll collect all the donations at the end.

Give the gift of education, no payment required. Join Team NYC.

Join our facebook group! Follow our progress, propose ideas, and chat with team members: https://www.facebook.com/groups/319345574818374/

About the team leaders:
My co-leader, Jemma, and myself attend the Dalton School, located in the heart of New York City. We have both been interested in computer science for several years, and we've participated in several CS competitions. We represented our school in the advanced ACSL Senior-3 All Star Competition this year, qualifying for it with a perfect team score of 120/120. But more important than our passion for computer science is our mutual desire to enable universal access to high-quality education. It's because of this desire that we're participating in this competition, and because of this desire that we're raising money for an international educational charity in the process.

So, interested in helping us achieve our goal? Join our team and let's make a difference together.

I am Liezl Puzon, and my co-leader is Nick Lum.
We both go to Freehold High School in Freehold, NJ. He goes to the Computer Science Academy and I go to the Medical Sciences Learning Center (but we both participate in our school's American Computer Science League). Last year and this year, I placed first in regular season and he placed second (just a point away).

Our team members win too.

Before we get into our intros, Nick and I are having prizes for the most units completed within our own team.

There are 3 Visa gift cards ($50 for 1st, $35 for 2nd, and $25 for 3rd place) that our members could win.

Check it out here: http://teamfreehold.blogspot.com/2012/07/rewarding-you.html

Join our team now!

Why are we participating in this challenge?

1. It's great to introduce this to my classmates. And everyone out there. Especially since I am very involved with the American Computer Science League at my high school. We have participated in national and international competitions. (Nick and I were both on the intermediate All-Star team last year and this year) We want to further our own team's expertise in programming and algorithms so we can beat out our future competition.
   BTW: this is our senior team winning this year at the national All-Star ACSL Competition http://www.frhsd.com/district/index.php?q=node/2961
2. I actually do believe in free online education, and I think it's pretty revolutionary. Especially college-level courses that are being offered to give us an edge. I have participated in Coursera and MITOpenCourseWare before this, and I have never seen such a clean, helpful program like Udacity. I like the teaching approach with assignments and lectures, but it's never too much so that it overwhelms you. OK, enough ranting about how much I like this site...
3. Stanford. Enough said. It's an amazing university.

How can we help our team members?

Well, we definitely have a lot of experience in programming, algorithms, and discrete math. I myself (Liezl) have taken AP Statistics this past year, and am starting to self study Physics. We can help you guys out, although the resources on Udacity are numerous. I will probably be active in the forums and a lot of our computer science team I hope will also be active. I am going to take a majority of the courses because they are all interesting, even the CS101 because I only know the Java programming language, and I've never learned Python at all. I will be able to help anyone out if they need.

COMMUNICATION

Our team has an IRC. Go to webchat.freenode.net and for the "Channels" field, type in "#Freehold". To ping someone, type their name followed by a ":" then your message.

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/437477796275202/

Blog: teamfreehold.blogspot.com

Team Leader Contact Info

http://www.udacity.com/hschallenge/team/join/agpzfnVkYWNpdHl1cg0LEgRVc2VyGK3jnQUM
If you want to give this out to your friends, you could also share this tinyurl (if you were handing it out on paper or just by ear):
tinyurl.com/teamfreehold

Thanks for reading, and I hope you will join our team. Please help our team out! We, Nick and I, truly have a passion for computer science and learning.

Hello fellow Udacians,

My name is Bilal Ayub, and my co-leader is Pauline Nguyen. We have formed Team Waltz to represent Plano East Senior High School in Plano, Texas, USA.

Who are we?

• Bilal Ayub: I was born in Islamabad, Pakistan, but have lived in the US for 14 years. Since moving here, I have lived in California, Colorado, and Pennsylvania. I speak Urdu (and it's variants), English, and will be studying French up to my senior year. I have always had a keen interest in STEM-related subjects (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) and computers in general. I am an avid web developer and am currently learning many programming languages. Currently, I am an honors student enrolled in International Baccalaureate as well as Advanced Placement classes. For more information, you can find me on LinkedIn.
• Pauline Nguyen: So, I was born in Dallas, Texas here in America and I have lived here for all of my 15 years of life. I have always enjoyed STEM courses, camps, and activities and like my partner, Bilal; I am enrolled in the International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement program and classes. I speak English and Vietnamese and am studying Spanish in school while learning numerous amounts of other languages outside of school. I’m the kind of person who likes to challenge themselves and those around them, hence this competition. As an avid and engaged student and hardworking athlete, my goal in this competition is not only to learn for myself but encourage everyone around the world to also grow a love for learning.
• The Team: Our team is currently comprised of a number of friendly colleagues, relatives, and members of Udacity from all over the world. The team is growing fast and is a significant contender in this competition. But we need your help to push the team further.

Why are we participating?

We are one of the many teams competing in Udacity's High School Challenge. This is a one-of-a-kind competition created by online-education pioneer Udacity. By partnering with Battelle, Udacity presents the opportunity for high school students to join together, learn, and potentially win a trip to Stanford.

But, truly, this competition is about so much more than a glorified prize. This is about an initiative to change the world. Education, one may argue, can have a significant impact on society. From the mechanics of sociology, to the genesis of innovation, education lays the seed for growth. By creating an open yet versatile platform like Udacity, the boundaries of education and knowledge are strained to the limit.

We are not in this for the prize, the glory, or the pride. Waltz is for free and open education and for the knowledge of our members. Together, we can all learn things that extend our knowledge of the world, and inquire others to join in.

How will we support our members?

We have created and are actively maintaining a comprehensive team blog which we hope will aide everyone in many ways:

• Track members' progress
• Provide general support on using Udacity
• Consolidate efforts to help spread the word
• Present interesting material relevant to the courses
• Serve as a reference on how to solve challenges
• Much more!

The bottom line is that this blog will provide relevant and useful updates regarding the team and Udacity's classes.

We need your help!

The team is quickly growing towards the top 5, but we need you! This is a team effort, and can not be accomplished alone. We need your help to recruit more members. Share this team via lnk.in/waltzblog everywhere you can, and encourage people to join! The more people, the more fun!

Feel free to email the team leaders for help or information; and we can point you in the right direction.

Team Leader: Bilal Ayub | dmise31@gmail.com

Co-Leader: Pauline Nguyen | pphn896@yahoo.com

Join Team Waltz!

The above statement is true. I got help in the Computer Science class double star question. My Team was very helpful in helping me comprehend and grasp the subject matter better.

TEAM WALTZ http://lnk.in/waltz

I'm Julian and my co-leader is Yunnis. We both have a dream: to show that education knows no borders.
To reach this we want to build the most international team and show that nothing can stop motivated and smart people from learning fascinating things ;) If you agree with our opinion help us to prove that we're right! Help us to build a big community and win this
competition!

About us:
Yunnis and I go to the Carl-Bosch-Gymnasium, Germany. We are both interested in computer science,mathematics and sometimes just talking about god and the world, like we in Germany would say ;)

If you have some problems don't be shy and ask me, Yunnis or the community. Extra for questions,announcements, etc. we made a Facebook group ( http://www.facebook.com/groups/332196263522707/ ). If you don't have a Facebook account contact us, I'm sure we'll find a solution.
Together with the community no problem will stop us!

Last but not least, we're looking forward to welcome you in our global player team! Because our aim isn't really easy to reach we need everybody! You, your friends, your neighbours,... everybody is welcome!
If you want to join us enter this link: http://www.udacity.com/hschallenge/team/join/agpzfnVkYWNpdHl1cgwLEgRVc2VyGK_daww

Have a nice time

Julian and Yunnis

I'm Yunnis and my co-leader is Julian and we are the TeamJusix. We both have a dream: to show that education knows no borders. To reach this wwant to build the most international team and show that nothing can stop motivated and smart people from learning fascinating things ;) If you agree with our opinion help us to prove that we're right! Help us to build a big community and win this competition!

About us:
Julian and I go to the Carl-Bosch-Gymnasium, Germany. We are both interested in computer science,mathematics and sometimes just talking about god and the world, like we in Germany would say ;)

If you have some problems don't be shy and ask me, Julian or the community. Extra for questions,announcements, etc. we made a Facebook group ( http://www.facebook.com/groups/332196263522707/ ). If you don't have a Facebook account contact us, I'm sure we'll find a solution. Together with the community no problem will stop us!

Last but not least, we're looking forward to welcome you in our global player team! Because our aim isn't really easy to reach we need everybody! You, your friends, your neighbours,... everybody is welcome! If you want to join us enter this link: http://www.udacity.com/hschallenge/team/join/agpzfnVkYWNpdHl1cgwLEgRVc2VyGK_daww

Have a nice time

Yunnis and Julian

TeamJusix

Team: Arbitrary Name

Participant : Wesley Roth

I am not in this for the trip to Stanford. I am not in this for the glorification. I am in this challenge to genuinely learn interesting things, for the multi-faceted, free learning, because understanding more and more about our world (whether it be through statistics, physics, or computer science) enables us to change our world, which is perhaps the most powerful (and inexpensive) aspect of our limited lives. I hope to instill this creed into this team and create an awesome experience, so learn something cool, regardless of the team, have fun, and help democratize and propagate free education.

Note: If you are curious about the initial participant, Wesley Roth, I am going into my Junior year of high school next year at Wiregrass Ranch High School (near Tampa, Fl), have extensive programming experience with Python and am passionate about doing and building interesting stuff, personal interests include computational neuroscience and soccer. I am free to help others whether it be programming, statistics, or physics and am open to any collaboration technologies for this class!

Let's change the face of education and have some fun!

Share it and join! http://tinyurl.com/teamarbitraryname

Come check us out and join at https://www.facebook.com/groups/448505235170543/

Hi! I am Matthew Zhang and I study at Allen D. Nease High School in Florida. As an International Baccalaureate student, I have developed an aptitude for learning. In a couple of months, I will begin my application process to college. Because I will be majoring in Computer Science, the courses that I take with Udacity will help tremendously!

I want to participate in Udacity's High School Challenge for several reasons. For starters, as the leader of a team I will be able to visit my dream school, Standford. This opportunity is incredible and would otherwise be impossible due to financial issues. Additionally, I will be taking these classes along with my team members. As you continue to progress in your studies, I will be right there with you. Finally, I feel like it is important that everybody continues to better themselves. Udacity offers classes that help to master your understanding of computers, which are unarguably the future.

In order to help my team members in their studies, I will be available at any times for questions. If I am unable to help, I will direct you to a resource that can help. Having a vast knowledge of the internet, I will be able to find the answer to nearly all of your questions. Additionally, I will dedicate myself to the forums in order to aid anybody that is in need.

To join my team, all you have to do is click on the link below. Note that anybody can join (Not just high school students).
http://www.udacity.com/hschallenge/team/join/agpzfnVkYWNpdHl1cg0LEgRVc2VyGNG_nAUM

Thank you for reading and I appreciate your help. Good luck to you in your studies!

Hey Udacity Students!

My name is Abdullah Yousufi, and my co-leader is Sean Lee. We attend Phillips Exeter Academy, a boarding, preparatory school in Exeter, NH.

Currently, we have opened up our team to our school's Computer Science Club, which means our current team members are passionate, hard-working students who excel at Computer Science. In fact, our Computer Science team has participated and placed in many Computer Science competitions, such as ACSL All-Stars, WPI, St. Bonaventure, WNEU, USACO, etc.

We would love to have you join our team. Our plan is to help and motivate each other in order to gain as much as we can from this tremendous opportunity. Though I am fairly new to Udacity, I have a lot of experience with programming. I have really enjoyed the courses I have taken so far, and I think Udacity offers an amazing way to learn Computer Science (and related topics) for all types of students, young or old, beginning or advanced.

So, at the end of the day, my team's goal is to ensure each individual gets the most out of this experience, taking into account each individual's prior background and experience. Sean and I will be available at all times during the challenge period, so feel free to email us with any questions or comments.

If you you would like to join our team, here's the link:

http://www.udacity.com/hschallenge/team/join/agpzfnVkYWNpdHl1cgwLEgRVc2VyGIyZSww

Thanks for reading!

Abdullah

Hey everyone. I'm Kenny Song, from the Academy for Business & Finance in New Jersey, USA.

Currently we have some of the best students in the world (our school's ranked #21 nationally) on our team, and we're looking for more!

We love to learn for the sake of learning, so if this motto fits you we'd like to have you on our team :)

Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TeamRenaissance2012

Our Team: http://tinyurl.com/joinrenaissance

We'll keep you updated and answer any questions on our Facebook page. And if you join, you'll get our personal email addresses so you can contact us at any time!

-- Kenny Song & Ararat Gocmen