The Highs and Lows (in degrees) of Jan/Feb- Regan

         So far, January and February have been characterized by lots of planning, canceling, and rescheduling due to the blizzards we have enjoyed over the past couple weeks. After numerous cancellations and rescheduled dates, however, our group was finally able to work out a time to go meet with the 5th grade class at Boyd last Friday afternoon. For our in class presentation, our group decided to work with the 5th graders by having small group discussions quizzing them over their "Green Knowledge." Since the 5th grade class has been doing a unit on environmentalism, the results that we got were extremely encouraging. Not only did the kids in this class have a good grasp on what kinds of things threaten the "greenness" of our planet, they also were full of descriptive and innovative solutions as to how we can all pitch in and help make our planet a more sustainable one.

       Although I have thoroughly enjoyed the classroom work that we have been able to do last semester and this last week, I am most looking forward to our group's plan to host a schoolwide Green Carnival for all of the kids at Boyd this spring.  Last semester, one of our most successful projects was when we were able to host a Green Recess Day where all of the kids came out after lunch and got to make green crafts and interact with our group.  After the success of this, I am hoping that our Green Carnival can be a bigger and better version of this- a MEGA-Green Recess, if you will.

      In order to ensure that this Carnival will be a success, however, it will be up to our group to have better communication with the school and with each other in order to make sure the event can be as fantastic as we hope it will be. With a better feel for what works (and doesn't work) for our group, I am hoping to utilize this semester as a chance to keep building the leadership qualities that I have seen develop from last semester, and to challenge myself to be more personally involved in the long-term planning initiatives of our group.  Now that the weather has finally cleared up (our greatest challenge in volunteering at the school), we are looking forward to a new semester and more exciting activities and interaction with the kids at Boyd.