The Fun Doesn't Stop at 3:00

For each night for the past two weeks, the student life office has come together to plan out some fantastic activities that everyone has enjoyed. (Thank you Ms. Simon and Sully!) They planned very fun trips such as going to Boston to go to a Celtics game, bowling, movies, and lazer tag. They have also had a casino night and a dance. My favorite was by far the Celtics trip. What were your favorite activites? Please comment on our blog. Thanks.

Flustered and back in the classroom...

Today we were all very productive as a group and got a lot done. Together, we posted about ten more new posts for the blog, worked on making the slide slide show for tomorrow's presentation, Eric visited the martial arts group, Tyus visited the Iron Chef group, Kerrin watched some chess matches, Gabe wrote a post on yoga, Judd wrote a post on casino night and talked about the trips coming back today, and I finished editing and put up the last two interviews for Head Start. We also got together in groups of two and came up with ideas for the last three blog posts for tomorrow.

Reflections of Head Start Volunteers

As stated on the Head Start website: "Created in 1965, Head Start is the most successful, longest-running, national school readiness program in the United States. It provides comprehensive education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to low-income children and their families. Nearly 25 million pre-school aged children have benefited from Head Start."

Here is a video with Jake, Will, and Mitch talking about what they love about this organization.



Please comment on my video! Thanks.

Week 2 in Costa Rica

(Photo found at: http://travelcostaricanow.com/index.php/Central_Valley_of_San_Jose)

Report continued from Kathryn Babin and Scott Johnson:

On Monday morning we awoke early to tackle the even more challenging water of the lower half of the river and then once more met our faithful bus driver for a 3 hour drive to La Fortuna, our second to last destination. Here we will go on a safari paddle, swim in natural pools and hike the base of the volcano. This will be a real contrast to both the Caribbean sea coast of Tortugero National Park and the mountain gorge of the Pacuare River. Our trip will end with a final day in San Jose and the next morning, we will leave for home. While some may look forward to the comforts of warm showers and spider-free bedrooms, we will all be sad to say goodbye to Guapo and our experiences in Costa Rica.

Pura Vida!

LAzer Tag

On-campus Winterims loaded 3 buses and traveled to Lazerzone in Marlborough, MA. Split into three groups - Blue, Orange, and Green - each student played a game of laser tag, ate pizza and played arcade games for tickets. We think Joe (and his "crew") had the most tickets coming away with an ugly purple blow up alien for 5,000 tickets. Ty and Connor had a blast squirting invisible ink over unsuspecting students. Several students found themselves "trapped" in the floor to ceiling playground. After a long night of lazer tag, students are looking forward to large winnings at Casino Night tonight.

Week 1 in the Costa Rican Rainforest

(Map found at: http://www.arenalcostaricacr.com/)

Report from Costa Rica by Kathryn Babin and Scott Johnson:

We've just arrived in La Fotuna, the town at the base of the Aernal Volcano in central Costa Rica. The trip has been fantastic so far and a great deal has to do with the people involved. First of all, all of the students have been getting along quite well and dealing with wet socks and long bus rides with a great sense of humor. Our Tico guide, Walter or 'Guapo' is truly fantastic. He has been with us from our arrival in San Jose and will be with us until our departure. His knowledge of everything about Costa Rica is vast: biodiversity, plants that can kill you and plants that can save your life, the people of the area, the history of the country, not to mention an uncanny ability to grab poisonous tree frogs from the jungle floor.

We began the trip in bustling San Jose in a hostel overlooking the city. A blanket of lights spread out before us as we settled into our new country. The next day we drove through winding mountain passes bordered by small cattle farms and tiny villages. We passed by a university dedicated to creating 'greenways' connection the national parks of the country. As we dropped out of the mountain mist and entered into the coastal plain, banana plantations run by names like Dole, Del Monte and Chiquita dominated the landscape, complete with “Warning: take no photos of the workers” signs.

Our faithful bus and driver, Juan Carlos, dropped us at the put in for the first leg of our water adventures. We kayaked for 5 hours through rich tropical rainforests on canals that serve as the only roads of the Tortuguero National Park. For locals, owning a boat is more important than owning a car. Our campsite and home base for the next 3 nights was a well-manicured lawn nestled in the rainforest. From here we adventured to the nearby town for a walk along the Atlantic shore to look at empty turtle nests and for an ice-cream treat. We also went 'gunkholing' through narrow waterways leading into the interior of the park. Howler monkeys warned us to stay away from the tree tops as we passed by sun-bathing turtles and caimen.

(Photos found at CBBC.)

On the fourth morning, we left the park via motorboat and cruised to our bus, which drove us to our next destination: a put-in on the Pacuare River. Walter was joined by two more guides who led us in paddling through the Class III rapids. Our lodge for the next three nights was carved into the hillside above a wide turn in the river between two tall canyon walls. From the hammocks and rocking chairs we observed the daily life of the jungle. Some highlights included a hike to the top of the ridge, a river crossing via small basket pulled hand-over-hand on a cable, scrambling up a small stream to a natural water slide and of course, zip-lining through the jungle canopy.

Pura Vida!


(Photo found at: http://www.costaricatours.com/pacuare/pacu01.html)

Showtime!

Here is a short video of pictures of the Something For Nothing Player's performance of the Wizard of Oz at Lawrence Academy in the black box theater on Friday. They departed for their tour on Sunday morning, where they will travel to Connecticut, New York, and New Hampshire, to perform their show at various elementary schools.



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HeadStart Interviews 1 & 2

Tyus and I visited HeadStart in Lowell on Friday with Mrs. Bev Rodrigues, to interview some students about what they have been doing in their Winterim and what their favorite experiences have been so far. The goal of this course is to provide an experience through which they can learn more about children in poverty and about early childhood education by working as teachers at HeadStart. Three and four-year-olds go to school every day there and each participant will work with a professional, an aide, and about twenty children in a classroom and on the playground, assisting a teaching team through the day.



Please comment on our video and leave us your feedback.