Perspectives
Charter School
Chicago, Illinois
Mary P. Cummane 10th Grade
Our vision is to create a school
of choice that satisfies the needs
of parents who wish to educate their
children to meet the challenges of
a changing world through academic
rigor and a disciplined life. Our
vision is to have our entire student
body graduate from Perspectives, i.e.
no dropouts. Our vision is to have
all of our students attend college
or technical school. We believe we
can educate our students to be knowledgeable
workers for the 21st Century.
Perspectives Charter School will
provide students with a rigorous and
relevant education that will prepare
them for life in a changing and competitive
world and to help them further become
intellectually reflective, caring
and ethical people en route to a lifetime
of meaningful work.
Perspectives has a long history of
involvement with Project Exploration.
Over the years, several of our students
have been selected for the Junior
Paleontologist Program. Additionally,
many more students became part of
the Dino Giants Team. All of them
have come away with a deeper understanding
and appreciation of science, paleontology,
and discovery.
Sophomore Class:
Meet our dynamic sophomores. They
are a talented group of scholars,
activists, dancers, athletes, philosophers,
scientists, readers and more. Whether
they are engaged in Physics activities,
literary circles, dialogues on diversity
or social change, they are a force
to be reckoned with. Their enthusiasm
is infectious and inspiring.
Student Questions:
- What sacrifices did you
make to go on this expedition to
Niger?
SERENO: Time, the easy
life, café au lait and donuts
in the morning, friends & family.
A desert expedition that takes you
to a different world for several
months is as difficult as it is
exciting. Beads of sweat roll down
my face, as I try to type this answer!
- Are you adjusting to
the living conditions on the Sahara
dig?
SERENO: Now do I have a choice?!
You bet! I like the heat. One thing
I don’t like is mosquitoes,
but fortunately there are fewer
of them critters here than in Chicago.
- How do the dinosaurs
in Africa differ from the ones found
in North
America?
SERENO: Well, for starters,
there are no spinosaurs or carcharodontosaurs
in North America, but these are
major predators on Africa during
the Cretaceous. The giant 4-legged
sauropods are the dominant plant-eaters
on Africa during the Cretaceous.
In North America, tyrannosaurids
and deinonychosaurs were the common
predators, and horned dinosaurs
and duckbills the common herbivores.
These are the largest differences.
As you go back to the Jurassic,
the animals on each continent become
much more similar. Both continents,
for example, have the long-necked
sauropod Brachiosaurus.
- How do you determine
which fossil is from which dinosaur?
GRAY: We look at their
bones very closely and compare them
to the bones of other dinosaurs
that have already been found. Often
times it will be fairly easy to
group a bone that is in good condition
into one of the larger, more general
groups of dinosaurs, such as sauropods
(large, long necks, quadrupedal)
or therapods (carnivorous, bipedal).
In the best of all scenarios one
has a complete skeleton of an animal
to look at, but we often only have
a few bones of dubious quality.
Surprisingly enough, however, each
bone contains a wealth of information
in the intricacies of its shape
that a skilled professional can
use to determine both where it is
from in the animal (i.e. the upper
arm) and which animal it is from.
- Parent Question:
Are the people of Niger interested
in the fossils being found and
Will they be returned there?
SERENO: They are very interested.
We are holding an open meeting in
the desert to let everyone know
what is going on. Niger now has
plans for the biggest dinosaur museum
on the continent. It will house
many of the fossils and reconstructions
that we have found.
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