It is my third summer working as a campus tour guide and it is my last summer. And while there are days that I wish I did not have to go to work and could just sit and do other things, I love my job! I love the people I work with and once I get out on campus with a family, and it is not 100 degrees outside I love my job!
Since I have been back we have been really slow at the office. But this past Friday it was the beginning of the summer craziness and it was so much fun! The families I got to meet were amazing and they were really interested in hearing about my trip abroad. I've been trying to figure out a good way to incorporate it into my tour and show students that study abroad can be a great option at any point of their college career, and with some more tours I think I will have a great way to include it.
Engaging students in the idea that it is POSSIBLE. Encouraging them to grab the brochure is a great tie into how I began my experience and then leads to how I never thought I would ever study abroad.Teachers in High School, Professors in College always talked about the experiences and I brushed it aside but my friends encouraged me to do it.
My story is so long, and one day I want to make it apart of my blog. There were so many factors that influenced my discission and in the end I know I made the best choice ever. It will forever be a part of me and that is why I want to include in along my tour route. We must tell the stories, and hook them in. What book did you ever read that didn't have a hook in the beginning? That is exactly what I am doing.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
A Final Day at Peach Plains
When I got the call that I was placed in Grand Haven I have never imagined what an impact it would make on me. I had an amazing semester before I left for South Africa, and now I have amazing contacts to take with me. I have good memories and rough memories. I have good experiences and tragic ones. Through it I was loved by everyone of my students, parents, and my CT. I had an amazing CT! And while I knew it before I left for South Africa, it became more evident after I left and we stayed in contact overseas.
So today I took my final walk to Room 19 with my Fiore Flowers waiting to have an amazing afternoon at the year end celebration. And that it was. The class of 2020 (yes 2020, scary!) enjoyed a day all together as Peach Plains 4th graders one last time. As they move onto White Pines 5/6 Building next year it is bittersweet to see them go, but exciting to see what is head for them.
There was a Relay Race, Scavenger Hunt, Hot dog lunch, Dunk Tank and Tug-a-War for the kids to do, and by far the dunk tank was the favorite. My CT was a brave sport and got in for the kids. As she said, they will not remember me yelling at them or telling them to do this or that but they will remember me getting in the dunk tank. And that is for sure. Ten times she fell into the tank and the class erupted. It was a lot of fun.
I got to see a lot of the parents. Grand Haven is an awesome community, and the parent involvement at Peach Plains is amazing so I had meet a lot of the parents before and at conferences. They we just excited to see me and hear about my South African journey. Every time I would say hello and introduce myself again, a parent would respond oh yes Miss Hughes, we have heard a lot about you. So I would have to say that no matter what battles I fought with my students when I was there, they are not going to remember that but they will remember the stories and gifts I brought them back from South Africa. They learned so much from my 6 weeks away from them, and that is something that they will never forget.
I will miss Peach Plains a lot. But I am now fully ready for my next journey. I will always be a Fiore Flower as will all those students, but we are now all on a new journey of change.
So today I took my final walk to Room 19 with my Fiore Flowers waiting to have an amazing afternoon at the year end celebration. And that it was. The class of 2020 (yes 2020, scary!) enjoyed a day all together as Peach Plains 4th graders one last time. As they move onto White Pines 5/6 Building next year it is bittersweet to see them go, but exciting to see what is head for them.
There was a Relay Race, Scavenger Hunt, Hot dog lunch, Dunk Tank and Tug-a-War for the kids to do, and by far the dunk tank was the favorite. My CT was a brave sport and got in for the kids. As she said, they will not remember me yelling at them or telling them to do this or that but they will remember me getting in the dunk tank. And that is for sure. Ten times she fell into the tank and the class erupted. It was a lot of fun.
I got to see a lot of the parents. Grand Haven is an awesome community, and the parent involvement at Peach Plains is amazing so I had meet a lot of the parents before and at conferences. They we just excited to see me and hear about my South African journey. Every time I would say hello and introduce myself again, a parent would respond oh yes Miss Hughes, we have heard a lot about you. So I would have to say that no matter what battles I fought with my students when I was there, they are not going to remember that but they will remember the stories and gifts I brought them back from South Africa. They learned so much from my 6 weeks away from them, and that is something that they will never forget.
I will miss Peach Plains a lot. But I am now fully ready for my next journey. I will always be a Fiore Flower as will all those students, but we are now all on a new journey of change.
My CT Nancy and I
Love her!
Nancy in the dunk tank. Kids loved it!
4th Grade Picture!
Friday, June 1, 2012
Camping
My family has camped as long as I can remember. We have an awesome group of friends that we always go with in July and do some small trips on weekends occasionally, and when I was younger we always did a long week as our family vacation. Times have changed but camping is still in my blood. Driving home from Algonac last weekend with the girls I was thinking about all the campers my family has owned and all the problems we had with them. Well really it was only with one camper did we have major problems. Each and every time we got a new camper it was bigger and so exciting.
I don't remember the first one that much. I know we borrowed my dad's cousins pop-up for our very first trip. Then we owned one very similar to it, with the hard sides. The first one I really remember is the one that we had so many problems with. It was the one we owned for the longest time. Now I know we owned two Starcrafts but we may have owned three. There was a blue phase, that pop-up went through everything with us. We use to push the beds in just a little further to stuff our swimming noddles at the edges. We use to pop it up in the garage most of the way and pack for our long trip. One time we had it popped up too much and closed the garage door, leaving a huge gauge in the roof. We also didn't lock the door when we traveled so we could get our cranks out when we got home, we just would lay them on the floor by the door. Well we learned our lesson about locking the door when a truck drove by honking its horn at us on I-75. The door has popped open who knows when. When my dad pulled over to close it he saw we had lost both our cranks. Lucky for us the trailer store was going to stay open til we got there to get new ones. From then on we kept the cranks in the truck. This pop-up also had the little wheel ripped off it. Dad had forgotten to crank it up once the trailer was on the truck. That was not a fun moment. A week before our annual trip with the group mom and dad decided it was time to get a new trailer. Not sure why so soon to our trip, I'm pretty sure we had most of the trailer packed already for the trip but one week before we left we unpacked the blue one and packed the new green trailer. The green trailer wasn't with us long, maybe four years or so and I was sad when we came home from our July trip and they told me it was time to take pictures of it to sell. That's when my parents upgraded to the trailer with fold out wings. I haven't slept in the trailer much, now I sleep in a tent. See they upgrade once we all leave; don't all parents?
Yet no matter where I sleep I always have fun camping. It is in my blood. My friends and I have mostly all decided we're going to camp forever, and be just like the group I grew up with.
I don't remember the first one that much. I know we borrowed my dad's cousins pop-up for our very first trip. Then we owned one very similar to it, with the hard sides. The first one I really remember is the one that we had so many problems with. It was the one we owned for the longest time. Now I know we owned two Starcrafts but we may have owned three. There was a blue phase, that pop-up went through everything with us. We use to push the beds in just a little further to stuff our swimming noddles at the edges. We use to pop it up in the garage most of the way and pack for our long trip. One time we had it popped up too much and closed the garage door, leaving a huge gauge in the roof. We also didn't lock the door when we traveled so we could get our cranks out when we got home, we just would lay them on the floor by the door. Well we learned our lesson about locking the door when a truck drove by honking its horn at us on I-75. The door has popped open who knows when. When my dad pulled over to close it he saw we had lost both our cranks. Lucky for us the trailer store was going to stay open til we got there to get new ones. From then on we kept the cranks in the truck. This pop-up also had the little wheel ripped off it. Dad had forgotten to crank it up once the trailer was on the truck. That was not a fun moment. A week before our annual trip with the group mom and dad decided it was time to get a new trailer. Not sure why so soon to our trip, I'm pretty sure we had most of the trailer packed already for the trip but one week before we left we unpacked the blue one and packed the new green trailer. The green trailer wasn't with us long, maybe four years or so and I was sad when we came home from our July trip and they told me it was time to take pictures of it to sell. That's when my parents upgraded to the trailer with fold out wings. I haven't slept in the trailer much, now I sleep in a tent. See they upgrade once we all leave; don't all parents?
Yet no matter where I sleep I always have fun camping. It is in my blood. My friends and I have mostly all decided we're going to camp forever, and be just like the group I grew up with.
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