By C.J. Carnacchio
Leader Editor
A global campaign to name the new Seven Wonders of the World inspired students at Oxford Middle Schools to build their own mini wonders.
Seventh-graders in teacher Catherine Colagross? geography classes recently constructed three-dimensional models of man-made monuments such as Stonehenge, the Great Wall of China, the Eiffel Tower and the Statues of Easter Island.
Using everything from clay and carboard to croutons and sugar cubes, the students combined geographic research with a big helping of math to build scale models of the some of the world’s greatest engineering feats.
‘The kids went above and beyond my expectations,? Colagross said. ‘I was blown away because I really didn’t give them much direction. I just said they could use any materials.?
The classroom project was sparked by an on-line campaign (www.new7wonders.com) calling for a worldwide vote to decide what the new Seven Wonders of the World should be.
In the 2nd century B.C., a Greek engineer named Philon of Byzantium selected what’s commonly known as the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World.
They included the Lighthouse at Alexandria, the Temple of Artemis, the Statue of Zeus, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus and the Pyramids of Giza in Eygpt.
Of those seven ancient wonders built between 2500 B.C. and 200 B.C., only the pyramids remain standing.
In an effort to decide what the world’s new wonders should be, Swiss film maker, museum curator, aviator and adventurer Bernard Weber created the New 7 Wonders (N7W) Foundation in 2001 as a way to protect mankind’s heritage across the globe.
Fifty percent of all net revenue raised by the New 7 Wonders Project will be used to fund restoration efforts worldwide such as the mission to recreate the giant Bamiyan Buddha statue in Afghanistan.
In 2005, the N7W panel chose 21 candidates (shown on page 27) from the top 77 nominees to move on to the final stage of the competition.
From these 21 landmarks, millions of people from around the globe will vote either on-line or by telephone to choose the new Seven Wonders of the World. Instead of one ancient man arbitrarily choosing the wonders, the modern world will now vote on them in a democratic fashion.
Voting began last year and is going on right now.
The winners will be formally announced on Saturday, July 7, 2007 in Lisbon, Portugal.
Students in Colagross? classes chose their models from among these 21 finalists.
The most popular choice was the Great Wall of China because students thought it would be easy to build given its relatively simple design, she noted. But because the ancient wall is 3,948 miles long and students were required to build everything to scale, the project was a lot harder than it appeared, Colagross explained.
Building the entire wall to scale would have meant creating a model that took up an entire classroom. Because the project had to fit on a desk top, students elected to do sections of the ancient structure.
Given most Americans tend to ‘struggle with geography,? Colagross hopes others in the community will take the time to go on-line, learn more about the 21 landmarks and vote in the competition.
‘They can be part of something that’s a worldwide endeavor,? she said.

The 21 finalists for the New 7 Wonders of the World
The Great Wall of China ? China
The Hagia Sophia ? Istanbul, Turkey
Kiyomizu Temple ? Kyoto, Japan
The Kremlin and Red Square ? Moscow, Russia
Machu Picchu ? Peru
Neuschwanstein Castle ? Schwangau, Germany
Petra ? Jordan
The Pyramids of Giza ? Egypt
The Statue of Liberty ? New York City, USA
Stonehenge ? Amesbury, United Kingdom
Sydney Opera House ? Sydney, Australia
The Taj Mahal ? Agra, India
The Acropolis of Athens ? Athens, Greece
Alhambra ? Granada, Spain
Angkor ? Cambodia
The Pyramid at Chich’n Itz? ? Mexico
Christ Redeemer ? Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The Roman Colosseum ? Rome, Italy
Statues of Easter Island ? East Chile
The Eiffel Tower ? Paris, France
Timbuktu ? Mali