All photographs are credited to Carol Labuzzetta. © 2018, taken at Alfred University, Alfred NY, November 2018. No permission exists to reproduce in any form. Thank you!
Student Life
Slice of Life Tuesday: Enrichment Learning through Experiential Lessons
When I started Evergreen Garden Club in the fall of 2004, its main purpose was to provide student enrichment through hands-on activities using an outdoor environment such as the school grounds. The first group, now adults in their mid-twenties, researched local butterfly species and host plants to enable a well thought out conversion of an…
Slice of Life Tuesday: Tips for Student Success from a Mom with Distance Learning Experience
Today, the school year kicks off in our local communities here in the Coulee Region of Wisconsin. Most, not all, are entering this year on a virtual platform as opposed to in-person, classroom learning. While the majority of students were exposed to an online learning environment last spring, it was brief if you consider how…
Poetry Friday: The End of Summer.
My poem this week is inspired by all the children returning to school. It is a time of year that I am fond of because of the sense of newness and anticipation for the year ahead. While this year will be a year like no other, I think the sense of anticipation can still be…
School and College Contemplations
Oh, boy! This year is set to be very different than any previous year for school. I have two students headed back to college classes and one who I thought was going to be entering as a college freshman but decided in early June that he was going to pursue a different path despite getting…
Words Followed by Action
Words need more substance than just inclusion in verbiage. There needs to be meaning AND intent behind them. While in grad school for my Environmental Education degree, we were asked in one of the theory courses whether education (about the environment) is enough (for community members). Is knowing about environmental problems and issues like the…
Free? Why, no, it’s not.
The world of art and non-profit organizations, while separate but sometimes overlapping, share a common conundrum. They both face the expectation of receiving goods and/or services for “free.” I am not a stranger to providing goods or services for free. As you might be aware, I led a garden club once a month for a…
Seasons of Life During COVID
This is an unusual time, of that there is no doubt. But, in some respects, life must move forward. I have a son moving out, he’s 20 and going to start college again in the fall as a transfer student. He attended a college two states away for a year, as a 2018 HS graduate….
Insomnia: All is not Right with the World!
At 3:30 a.m., I arose from my bed after lying there for over an hour, not sleeping. Nights are sometimes hard for me. I go to bed and my mind refuses to shut down. Or, it shuts down for a short time and then ramps back up again as bothersome issues rise to the surface…
Hi = A Smile
This morning I started a post about old posts. I worked on it for a while and then decided to do something else – something on my “to do” list. I finished a draft of a biography I need for an upcoming presentation in June. I was not happy with it. Writing a biography or…