A Dancing Lawyer and his English-Teaching Friend Lead LA Students into Court

The LA Winterim Social Media Team ran into the System group on the Red Line today while the System group was heading to see the Boston Municipal Court. This unplanned meeting gave The System Winterim time to discuss what they had done over the past few days.

The System has spent its first few days of Winterim traveling to various courts in Massachusetts in order to observe the Judicial System in the United States. So far the group has traveled to a state court, a federal court and today they will be experiencing an arraignment court.  This is one of the busiest courts in the system since everyone who is arrested must go through this type of court.

For the second half on Winterim, the System will travel to Washington D.C. to further see inside the workings of the Federal Government. After they arrive in Washington D.C on Monday, the students will spend the next two days meeting with legislators, seeing Congress, seeing the Supreme Court, visiting the FBI, and possibly meeting with a few cabinet members.

From Building a Fruit and Smoothie Stand to Teaching English

After two long days of hard work, spent both building and teaching, the Dominican Service group continues to be exited to help the Mariposa Foundation. After the long day of work yesterday (Wednesday), Ms. MacMeekin sent another update on the group's progress:

Hola!!

Day two was supposed to end at 4, but the group decided we needed to finish the cinder block portion of the building so we pushed for another hour and got it done!  Today we are painting wood for the upper walls, creating a floor, playing softball, and teaching some English classes (just to name a few of our jobs).  Everyone is still in great spirits and working hard to accomplish as much as we can.  The girls of Mariposa are getting used to our group and want to include us in all they do which is fantastic! As I sit here writing this update, two girls are playing with my hair and singing the song they learned with Mr. Bashir in English class. 

Things are going very well and the kids are working hard, learning a lot, and having a great time. 

Hope all is well in the US!

A Different Kind of Game

Beyond Monopoly Winterim is making board games. These are not your ordinatry board games as the name of the Winterim suggests. The games require strategy and problem solving. The group has played several games like The Settlers of Catan, Game of Thrones, Memoir '44, Smallworld, Formula D, Hive and many others.  They play the games to learn more about what goes into creating a complex strategy game that is also entertaining to play.

Their game creations or prototypes are in progress as seen below. Much of which might be changed by next week after they meet with gaming experts this week.  Creative names like Space Race and Occupy all Streets might some day be seen on the toy shelves of Toys R Us.

Going Under

Underwater Discovery finally gets "under water" by doing some snorkeling on Tuesday, March 5th. We learned about their day though a Facebook email sent by Craig and Erik:

Post by Lawrence Academy Winterim.

Live Blogging at Boston Celtics Game

What is a cool "duty" night for an LA faculty member?  Riding a school bus into Boston on a frigid cold Wednesday evening with about 150 students to watch a Celtics game. I'm here (Mrs. Poulin) and thought I would try to actually write a post using the iPad Blogger app, while watching the men in green (well actually white since it's a home game) get beaten by the Golden State Warriors. At 2:33 left in the third it's an even 30 point spread- 52 to 82.  The students are still enjoying themselves, some sleeping, others eating, and a few trying to get on the Jumbotron like Tupac (yes, the famous rapper is in the TD Garden tonight- at least his look-alike is). So, spending a night on duty as an LA faculty member does have its perks - in addition to the obvious - that we get to connect with and watch our students connect with each other in a very unique environment - the TD Garden!

Update: By the time I finished this post, had it edited, and figured out how to upload a photo with this app, it is now the fourth period. Celtics are still losing 66 to 91.

The Secret to Healthy Living

Today in Yoga Beyond the Mat, Sarah Brassard came to lead the students in their afternoon yoga exercises. Sarah is the founder of Access Shuniya, which is a company that focuses on happiness and awareness that we can see within ourselves and we can tap into through yoga. This exercise is designed to help people get through traumatic experiences and difficult times in their life. Sarah brought along her friend, Laura, who talked about the difficult times she has been through in her life and how yoga has helped her get through those times.

Throughout the week, the students have learned the basics of yoga and the importance of living healthily and how living healthily can strengthen the body and the mind. In the coming days, these students plan on attending lectures on nutrition and wellness. Next Thursday, they plan on going for a hike and eating an organic meal at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health.

Ciao! Almost Ready to Dig!

Students in the Can You Dig It? Winterim arrived in Rome, Italy today (Wednesday) at noon. They used the beginning of this week to research Italian history and the sites that they will be visiting during their time in Italy. After they arrived in Rome, they started traveling to Tolfa, where they will be staying. Everyday these students will travel to Monte Piantangeli, where they will spend most days excavating sites, learning more about Italian history, and even learning some Italian.

Today, Mr. Greene sent us an update on how the students faired in their international travel and what they will be up to tomorrow and the coming days:

Ciao!

Using planes, trains and automobiles (both buses and Fiats), the "Can You Dig It?" Winterim is officially underway in Italy. The students and faculty leaders survived a gauntlet of Italian public transit obstacles after a long flight to safely arrive at their dormitory in Allumiere, Italy. Our group used this long travel experience as an opportunity to get to know one another (and our guide Susanna), while maintaining a terrific overall attitude towards the interesting ups and downs of international travel. We are looking forward to our first day at the dig site tomorrow and getting our hands dirty as we learn from some expert archaeologists about how we can maintain the wonderful history that Italy has to offer. Attached are pictures of the group enjoying their 2 hour layover in Amsterdam and enjoying their first true Italian pizza in Civitavecchia!