Monkeys, Dolphins, and Sloths! Oh my!

Warm weather and warm waters welcomed LA students to Costa Rica for some kayaking fun!

Photo of Playa Beach (not sent by group)

We have not heard directly from this group but according to their plans they arrived to San Jose, Costa Rica and then drove to the Central Valley Lodge on Monday after a full day of travel. On Tuesday they began their kayaking training and learning rescue procedures at Playa Blanca Beach. (When trying to find this on a map, Google Maps pinned a beach of the same name on an island off the coast of Morocco! We're sure they are in Costa Rica, but we can't seem to find them on a map!)

On Wednesday they did a paddle along the coast into the Playa Blanca Estuary (full of monkeys, sloths, reptiles and lots of birds).  Also they took a hike through the gallery forest after eating lunch at their base camp at the beach. They may have caught a glimpse of a white-faced or squirrel monkey. Thursday they broke camp at Playa Blanca Beach and paddled about 3 hours to their next destination - Cabanas and Camping at El Chontal.  They will stay here through Saturday morning. While here they have been learning about the Gulfo Dulce, with a focus on dolphins and whales. (We could find this on a map!)

Today (Friday) they were expected to be paddling into the estuary of the Rincon River. We hope this was a short paddle because tomorrow (Saturday) they will be taking an 18-mile water trek starting at 6:00 a.m., along the coast, stopping at the Magos Islands.  (They may spot dolphins tomorrow!!) By Saturday afternoon, they will have arrived at another camp (Saladero Lodge and Campground), a paradise with showers and a kitchen (and a Facebook page)!

Saladero Lodge - photo from web (so maybe not the right place)

Watch the Something for Nothing Players' Dress Rehearsal on YouTube

Check out the video of the dress rehearsal of the Something for Nothing players!

(The audio quality is a bit poor, sorry about that. We are still learning...)

Helen Haunts LEAD

Mr. Margraf, the LEAD faculty leader has limited access to e-mail and his cell reception is spotty at the YMCA Camp Takodah. However, he was able to send us a text update on Wednesday about how they are doing out in the woods of NH.  He'll get us some photos when they return for the weekend.

We are having a blast. The boys have been terrific. 

Monday was indoor-get-to-know-you games. Tuesday was building a snow shelter and starting/maintaining a fire in the middle of the woods. The afternoon was spent designing their connections board and deciding on a team name. They are - Fraternity of the Stealth Corner (FOTC). They had to spell the acronym on a white board using a marker in the middle with sixteen strings off it. Each boy pulled two strings taught and they worked together to write the acronym. Last night (Tuesday night) was singing in front of the fire and they put on a good skit. Today (Wednesday) we hiked around Lake Tully and will do knot tying this afternoon. Tomorrow (Thursday) is the low ropes and high ropes course. 

 We are working with two Irish interns (first time in the states; they are both 21), Marit, and Peter (our leaders). Food and lodging are great except the boys have convinced themselves that a ghost, Helen, resides in our cabin. Doesn't help when I hide in a sleeping bag and scare them when they come back from dinner. All for now!

We Can Do Our Winterim Work Anywhere - Florida Next Week?

Hey. Doing some work...

On Thursday, we, the Winterim Social Media Team, which consists of Nate Sintros, Edward Hacala, and Mrs. Poulin, decided to take the Commuter Rail into Cambridge. After the Commuter Rail, we boarded the Red Line towards MIT, and on the train, we ran into The System Winterim group. Edward, being a responsible Social Media Team member, took mental notes of our conversation and wrote a blog article later that morning.

Nate is pretty focused

Our main purpose for coming to Cambridge was to visit the Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC), which is on Broadway Street in Cambridge, MA. During our visit we worked in a private conference room, the Rangoon, that overlooked Kendall Square. Once we got over our initial giddiness of writing on a "white board" wall and being able to display our computer on a 60 inch wall-mounted TV, we got down to work creating internet content by blogging, tweeting, and posting Winterim news.

The Rangoon Room

After a quick lunch break at Za, (where Mrs. Poulin had the strangest looking salad) we met with the CIC Relationship Manager, Augie Llona. He lead us on a tour of CIC and explained the inner workings of the organization. We observed an open, modern space full of innovative people who were either starting or maintaining companies. As Augie explained to us, if someone has an idea, CIC offers them the space and resources to act upon it and turn it into a successful venture.

The wonderful Social Media Team

While our Winterim project is not about creating a business per say, it is about being creative and resourceful. We are using some of the same social media sites that new businesses starting up now must use in order to advertise their company. We were inspired by the space CIC has to offer to help these businesses be innovative and network.  We hope to do our work from there again next week as it was a good change of scenery and pace from Mrs. Poulin's classroom!  (And Augie is trying to set us up with a tour of Google!

Crushed into the subway train on the way home.
Can you "I Spy" some guy's little eye?

We hope you continue to read the blog! Also follow LA Winterim on Twitter and Instagram or "like" Lawrence Academy Winterim on Facebook!

Ua Mau Ke Ea O Aina I Ka

"The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness" - Hawai'i State Motto

A picture of the coast taken from the group's campsite

For the past week, the students and faculty on the Hawai'i Winterim trip have been spending their time volunteering at Kua O Ka La, a public charter school. During this time the Hawai'i Winterim group has been camping at the school, which is located at Pu'ala'a, Puna, an intact ancient fishing village.

While volunteering at  Kua O Ka La, the Hawai'i group has also been working on projects invoving forestry and agriculture as well as learning about the culture and history of Hawai'i.

Over the second half of Winterim, the Hawaii group will be travelling to places such as Waipo Valley, Kohala, Valcanoes Natural Park and Hilo, to hike up Akaka Falls.

Chess To Make It's Next Move

Over this past week, the Chess Winterim has spent time learning to play the game of Chess and all of the strategies that go behind it. The group has had times of free-play, where the students play one another in order to improve their skills, and also times of situation instruction, where the students learned strategies that can be used in different scenarios.

Leading some of the chess instruction is a highly rated player who once defeated a former Chess World Champion in a simultaneous exhibition.

Today, the students worked on worksheets that showed different arrangements of the chess pieces. From each of these arrangements, the students had to find the moves to secure checkmate.

Next week, the Chess Winterim will be holding a tournament in which all of the students will play through a bracket until there is one victor. For the competition, the group will be traveling to Harvard Square on Wednesday, March 12.

To see the results of the tournament make sure to check the blog following the competition late next week.

Painting Adventures on the Edge of the World

Students in the Visual Journaling Winterim have been traveling around Portugal all week, painting the people and places they travel to. They first flew into Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, on Tuesday, where they painted for a whole day before traveling to Evora. They have spent the past few days painting and exploring Evora, specifically the cork forest and the megaliths there. After painting in Evora, they plan on traveling to Olhao, where they will paint the market and the old town of Olhao, and also take day trips to the island of Culatra and the coast of Algarve. After they finish painting in Olhao, they will travel to Sintra, where they will paint at the Quinta da Regaleira before hiking to the Castelo. After they paint in Sintra, they will travel back to Lisbon where they will head home on Thursday of next week.

We wish the Visual Journaling Winterim group safe travels and we hope that they have an amazing experience throughout their time in Portugal!

They passed their test!!

Underwater Discovery has posted some news to the Winterim Facebook page and they've sent us this recent update: (This is the only group photo we have so far, although we're sure they have taking many while there and we hope to see them and more beautiful ocean views!)

Hey there it’s Hannah and Lizzy blogging from Belize! 

Today (Thursday) we started off with preparing for our scuba diving by doing part one of our exam. Good news  -  we all passed! It took about four hours though so… after we were done we took a nice long swim in the ocean with the whole group. Played some football and saw some seahorses swimming about in the sun. Are you guys jealous?! You should be. :)

We then snorkeled to research the turtle grass habitat. As well as seeing a bunch of little fish and a lot of grass, we saw two sting rays swimming right next to us and also a little shark! Don’t worry, it wasn’t Jaws. Linden, our main local guide, calmed us down with a special requested chocolate concoction. 

Tomorrow (Friday) we are going out for our very first dive in our scuba gear! We are all really excited and nervous, but at least we will look amazing in our gear!

That’s it for now, stay tuned for Belize tomorrow (Friday).

The Enrichment of Many Lives at the Arc of Opportunity

Students in the Arc of Opportunity Winterim group have been going to the Arc Community Services Center in Fitchburg, MA every day this week, helping out adults with mental and physical handicaps. These adults take part in daily activities like craft projects, games, and other recreational activities. LA students have stepped out of their comfort zones in order to enrich their own lives by getting to know people who are different than themselves and, at the same time, are helping out a good cause.

Students are flying planes for Winterim?

Well, technially no, students are not flying planes, but Connor is shadowing a person at an airline for his Professional Winterim.  We heard from him mid-week and he did get to fly in the cockpit of a plane heading to Boston. 

I am writing to you from Hyannis, where I am currently living with my cousins. Everyday, I commute to the headquarters of Cape Air, a regional airline that services multiple regions, including the Northeast, Montana, and the Caribbean. I am shadowing the Manager of Crew Resources, and my daily duties include paperwork, attending meetings, and working on spreadsheets. Some of the more exciting things I’ve done so far include tagging along on a quick flight to Boston and back, and meeting the company’s founder Dan Wolf, who is also a state senator representing the Cape and Islands. Today I was fortunate enough to meet the airport manager for the airport here in Hyannis, and learn more about how a small airport runs. The experience so far has been really interesting, and I look forward to my next week and a half here at the company. 

The Winterim Professionals program has given me a great opportunity to explore the aviation industry, and I’m interested to hear more about how the other Professionals students are doing, as well as the other LA students experiencing Winterim both on campus, and around the world, by reading the Winterim blog! Keep up the good work, and happy Winterim!

LA Students Go To Preschool

For the past week, students in the HeadStart Winterim have been helping out as classroom teachers for three to four year-olds through the National HeadStart Organization. Each day, the large group of students, along with the four Winterim leaders (Mr. Mitchell, Mr. Bates, Mr. Gagnon, and Mr. Woo) head out to nursery classroom located in schools in Lowell, MA and Lawrence, MA. While in the classrooms, each student operates as a solo teacher, with the help of a professional and an aide, to lead and teach a group of around twenty children both in the classroom and on the playground.

Each day, after helping in the classrooms, the HeadStart group meets for a discussion of what they saw during their day of assisting teachers in the classrooms and how that affected them. The students also then keep a daily journal in which they reflect on their experiences that day.

Break a Leg, Something for Nothing Players!

All this week, the Something for Nothing Players have been hard at work preparing to put on a musical show for children in many different places throughout New England, a tour that will span four days next week. These students have been building and planning their sets, designing their costumes, and practicing their roles as much as possible these past few days. Today (Friday) at 2 o'clock, they will have a dress rehearsal where the public can see what they have produced in this first week of Winterim. You can watch this dress rehearsal live here. You can also get a short preview of what their performance will be like here.

On their tour, the Something for Nothing Players will experience what it is like to be an actor/musician "on the road", getting up early in the morning and living out of a suitcase while they go from place to place performing. These students will also learn about early childhood education and the value of storytelling, as well as gain the knowledge and experience that designing and performing a production holds.

We wish the Something for Nothing Players the best of luck in their dress rehearsal today, and hope that their performances next week go even better! Break a leg, Something for Nothing Players!