Atlanta, here we come! - National Conference 2018
Once again this year it happened: Two weeks before the end of the school year, twelve students and two teachers disappeared from school to drowsily arrive at Leipzig Airport at 4:15 a.m. for a romantic sunrise over the A14 motorway. After a long bus journey, which was interrupted by a very short flight, we then arrived in a gigantic labyrinth also known as Frankfurt airport. All the more we were happy about the quite recommendable film selection of Lufthansa, which entertained us ten hours and 40 minutes on the way to Atlanta. At 3 pm local time we reached our destination and took the subway to the city center.
We moved into our rooms on floors 31, 36 and 62 of the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel, the highest building in the city. The view was breathtaking, especially at night and from the outside glass elevator. Exhausted we fell into our beds.
The next day we went sightseeing. At first, we visited the Georgia State Capitol - a magnificent building from colonial times, which contained numerous watercolor paintings by politicians as well as natural and social studies exhibitions. Of course, we didn't miss the chance to take part in the CNN Studio Tours. On the 50-minute guided tour, we gained many exciting insights behind the scenes of the world news station. From there we went through the Olympic Park in the city's heart to the Georgia Aquarium and enjoyed a live dolphin show.
The next day we went to the iconic World of Coca-Cola, which we could hardly leave after an immersive experience in the 4D cinema because the floor in the last room was so sticky from dozens of cola varieties from all over the world. Afterwards, we were actually quite satisfied with our European soft drinks (even though the American ones were quite drinkable, too). Following this stimulating dose of pop culture, it was time for some contrasting though very educational experiences at the Center for Human and Civil Rights. This touching exhibition on human rights violations all over the world has left no one unaffected. Particularly striking was an interactive simulation in which the visitor was being put in the skin of a protester who was insulted and beaten during a peaceful sit-down blockade. In addition to testing the local restaurants, we used our evenings first and foremost to rebuild our competitive event work after the flight and give it the finishing touches.
On Friday evening, the long-awaited day had arrived: This and the following day we worked according to a well-organized schedule to register and submit all projects in time. The conference opened with the Opening General Session at the Georgia World Congress Center in front of thousands of members clothed in navy-blue. In addition to the projects worked out during the school year, we took part in various on-site competitions and regularly kept an eye out for our names on the semi-final lists. We reached this stage six times and proudly prepared for our interviews in which we had to present and defend the projects in front of a jury.
A visit to a baseball game of the Atlanta Braves, which was delayed due to bad weather, loosened up the competition atmosphere a bit. We concluded that Baseball was a very fascinating sport.
On Tuesday morning the final standings were announced: Our team was on stage five times, including the ninth place for Biotechnology Design and the fifth place for Scientific Visualization. Finally, one sentence took our breaths away:
"And the first place trophy goes to a team that came to us all the way from Germany..." we heard three times that day: We won three trophies for Webmaster, Digital Video Production, and - to everyone's surprise - Architectural Design.
Very happy and at the same time sad about having to leave again, we made our way home. We would like to thank all team members, the parents who supported us on our way and, of course, our teachers, sponsors as well as TSA. They are the ones who make it possible for us to embark on this exciting journey every year.