All About Me

Name: Greg Jackson

Age: 14

School: Kennett High School

Hometown: Kennett Square                       

Favorite Sport: Basketball

Favorite NBA Teams: 

Philadelphia 76ers

Allen Iverson SG                 Kenny Thomas  SF         Samuel Dalembert  C

          

Sacramento Kings

Mike Bibby     PG       Doug Christie  SG        Bobby Jackson  PG    Chris Webber  PF

       

College Choice: undecided

Possible College Majors: health and physical education, criminal justice

Possible Careers: police department, teacher (health and physical education), Professional Basketball Player

STI Program

Greg Jackson

July 15, 2004

The Franklin Institute

Today I went on a field trip to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, PA.  When we got there it was very crowded so we couldn’t do as much as we had hoped.  The first thing we did was go to the “Sports Challenge” to challenge our athletic abilities. We saw how high we could jump, how fast we could throw, and how well you can dribble a basketball.  After this we all had lunch on the bus.  After we had lunch we went into the Planetarium and watched a thirty minute video on outer space.  We saw how planets and stars looked with a close up visual.  After we saw the video in the Planetarium we went to the gift shop.  In the gift shop some boys bought hats, then we were ready to go.  Outside of the institute the girls bought some flashing pacifiers.  While we were waiting for the bus some of us boys spotted a man that probably lived in the city.  He was playing some bells and we gave him some money.  Then Justin and Ishmael started playing the bells with this man and made a good sounding beat, that Mike rapped to.  After this we were on our way home.  This trip was fun but not so educational because our abilities to learn were not challenged because of  the amount of people that were there.

Philadelphia International Airport

Greg Jackson    July 13, 2004

Today we went to the Philadelphia International Airport.  We took a tour from a very nice lady her name was Ms. Bernadette.  There was a question asked about what has happened since 911 the answer was that all the security has tightened up.  The first thing at the airport we saw was the U.S. air tower.  This tower is fairly large, so it helps the pilots in the planes land and take off.  After this there was another question asked about how many people work at this airport, there are about 21,000 employees that work at this airport.  Most of the people that work at the airport have degrees in aviation management and/or are bilingual.  With many people working and other people having to go places, the airport never closes.  The next “exhibit” that we saw was the cab system.  The cabs that work for the airport have medallions, to show that they are a part of the airport's ground transportation, along with vans and limos. After the cab system we went to the International Rivals Hall.  In this hall there was a large copy of the Declaration of Independence and they had a barrier in the middle with all of the signatures on it.  Up close to the ceiling there were some very important words from the Declaration of Independence.  After this we saw some art work, it was called “Impulse.”  Ms. Bernadette taught us the four principals of aviation they are: Lift, thrust, drag, and gravity.  After this we saw another piece of work and it had Betsy Coleman, the first African American woman to fly a plane in the United States.  After this we saw how the foreign people got into the airport and a gentleman told us that some planes can hold 200-400 passengers.  We didn’t get to go out on the runway for the planes because of an emergency landing.  But this field trip to the Philadelphia International Airport was very fun, educational, and increased my knowledge about planes.

On the Railroad

By: Greg Jackson

Today on our field trip we traveled to the Strasburg Railroad Museum near Lancaster, PA.  During the field trip we participated in physical activities such as taking a tour of many kinds of trains, looking at model trains, building bridges, and we took a train ride around the Strasburg area.

When we were taking tours of the trains I saw the different looks of the outside of trains.  When we took a look on the inside of the trains each one was different.  The inside of the trains were built to “house” the people who rode it, whether the people being the conductor who had a bed on the train or a passenger who have comfortable seats to ride in.

Another part of the field trip was looking at model trains.  Looking at the model trains helped me get an idea of how the trains were built.  Also while looking at the trains I saw how each one differed in speed.  After we saw the model trains people built model bridges for model trains to go over.  By building model bridges you can see how the “real thing” is really built.

My favorite part of the trip was the train ride.  On the train ride you saw how fun it really is to ride a train.  You usually see people riding on trains in the old day movies, and when riding this train it took me back to those old time movies.  This field trip was a really great experience.

Pennsylvania Railroad K4s, No. 3750.

PennDot Traffic & Construction

By: Greg Jackson

Today we went on a field trip to PENNDOT Construction site and the PENNDOT Traffic Control Center.  At the construction site they were designing and reconstructing new expressways to stop traffic build up.  This project costs $250 million and about 5 years to complete.  Reconstruction is basically fixing something so it works better than before.  To get the money to reconstruct, the money comes from federal money, taxes, and state funds.  To reconstruct it takes 3 steps.  The 3 steps are fixing the shoulder pavement on both the north and south sides.  Then you pave both sides to fix the potholes.  After that you pave the middle of the north and south sides.  This reconstruction occurs in various different states.  To get the construction jobs the owners of the sites give out designs according to what they want done, then companies bid on who gets the job.  The lowest bidder wins.

The next stop was the PENNDOT Traffic Control Center.  We learned how they clear up the traffic jams by using tow trucks and cameras.  After this we went into the main control center and saw how the traffic flowed, we also saw how the tow trucks go out and help the people who broke down or got in an accident.  We saw this by the monitors they had in the control room.  This trip was very educational in the construction and traffic field.