Friday, August 21, 2015

A new adventure

We had barely gotten the kayaks off the trailer before our incoming students had scattered to the four winds on the lake.

What a great time getting to know these awesome and creative students!

I am so privileged to be a part of such this unique learning environment we call "The Depot."

I can't wait to get to know these students, and their more veteran peers, this year, helping them to find their passion and purpose and overcome the obstacles in their lives. I'm so glad they have this Big Picture school to flourish in--a place that's more than outside the box--a place where "there is no box."

And I am looking forward to working with the great team of advisors (teachers) and staff I have here. Pulling everything together for this outing was a bit complicated. The trailer, kayaks, and vehicles were all in different places, with different owners, and the ball hitch was the wrong size and the electrical connector was too short and the students were all nervous, but this team's dedication was amazing. I may be called the "Director" here, but I'm just part of an awesome team.

And by the end of our 4 hours together the students had cleaned up two watermelons, chatted up a storm, thoroughly explored the lake, tried to catch fish (barehanded, with the help of granola crumbs), collected garnet sand grains, made new friendships, strengthened old ones, and launched what I think is going to be an awesome year.

It promises to be an adventure for me as much as for them: an adventure in learning about ourselves, each other, and the world, learning new skills, confronting old and new challenges. I'm under no illusions that it will be easy, but I'm looking forward to it. And I'll be relying heavily on my team, plus my mentors, Brad Martin, now of East Bay Met, and the admin. at E. O. Smith. And that's what it's all about--life's an adventure, and we're all in it together.

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