Monday evening I was at parent-teacher conferences. My youngest son is a senior in high school and is currently involved in a large solo art project in a nearby community. He is painting a mural on an outdoor wall at a business. It is large – nearly 40 feet long. But, it is October in…
Yesterday was my last day of work at a job I’ve only had a little more than 8 months. It was a job I wanted, a job I was given the opportunity to have, and a job in what I was educated to do – be an environmental educator. But, alas, the job was not…
I’ve been thinking a lot about potential lately….. Future Potential, Unrealized Potential, Untapped Potential, or even, Staying because of Potential. It is an odd contemplation. Unrealized potential is a little easier to digest, yet the saddest, because it might not be self determined. This includes those who cannot find their groove, succumb to circumstance, or…
Earlier this week I got the chance to hear a spoken word poet by the name of Chris James. He was the speaker selected to address the winners of the 2019 Congressional Art Contest in Washington D.C.. Most of his speech was motivational and inspirational for the 433 young artists and their family members who…
It’s a small world after all. The words of the Disney song, “It’s a Small World, ” ring more true the older I get. Maybe, it’s because I have been fortunate enough to travel to other lands and feel at home when I am there. Maybe, it’s because my oldest son is attending a symphony…
My second garden club group is coming to an end. I have mixed feelings about letting it go. Last week, I turned in my resignation to the principal at a local elementary school where I have served as a co-curricular advisor for their garden club. I started in the fall of 2017 and will end…
For a while now, I’ve had a private love affair. No one knows about it except for my husband! Yes! It’s true! My husband is the only one that knows I love the town clocks of the Rotary International Service Organization! I think this love affair started in 2012 when we went to California for…
Yesterday, I talked to 135 second graders about treating our forests as our friends. I used the concept of community to make the lesson as familiar as possible for them. For I know that by second grade students are introduced to this in their classes. Communities are successful if everyone works together and does their…
The following post is a reprint of a paper I wrote five years ago this spring, during my very first course for graduate studies in the field of Environmental Education. Much has changed since then, namely the cessation of Evergreen Garden Club, a group to which I refer in this post. However, I find myself…
Last night it happened again. Garden club ended, I had 13 students in attendance, and at dismissal, all were picked but one. Unfortunately, this occurrence has become routine for this one student at the end of garden club. We dismiss at 4:45 p.m.. After each of our monthly meetings, since September, every student is picked…