Rollins Abaco - Bridging the Digital Divide

2009-12-21T19:25:00.000-08:00

last day in the Bahamas :(

2009-12-18T19:30:00.000-08:00

Today was not like our usual mornings. Instead of getting up early for ECC we slept in till 8:30, which was a really big treat! We also woke up with more people in our room because Jen’s room locked themselves out of their room. Jen, Kate, and Helen were roomies with us for the night. Even though it was crowded it was fun to have everyone together.

Looking out the window we all got very worried very fast. The wind was insane and we were all fearful that we would be forced to go kayaking. Thank goodness Carrie came in and told us that the kayaking adventure was canceled. This made us all a bit more excited for the trip to Hope town. After packing and getting ready to brave the wind we stepped out and got ready for the lighthouse filled day!

The ferry ride was an experience all in itself. The weather was rough and the seas even rougher. Our group had been told that it was going to be a 2-hour ferry ride, but that was clearly wrong. The moment that we got on it felt like we then got off. As we approached land you could see the lighthouse in the distance. It was a great sight to see and got everyone excited.

Some started by going up into the lighthouse while others shopped around in a store a bit. It was a great way to spend our last day because it was fun to reflect upon what we did during the week and get to spend some relaxing time with each other before we separate for break. It’s sad to think that once we return to school we will no longer have an RCC class together. But we have already planned RCC reunions to keep our bond strong J

Our lunch, although the place changed, was great, relaxing, and delicious. Being able to throw your remaining food over the side of the dock to hungry swarms of snapper was a fun addition. After being full and happy we went over to the museum to learn all about Hope Town. It was an educational way to learn about the town we were about to explore. After that, we were sent off to explore the island. It was so relaxing getting to walk around and enjoy the day that had begun to clear up a bit.

Many Christmas gifts were bought, many gifts for ourselves were bought, and of course the coffee shop was hit up for some better tasting coffee than we usually have every morning. We caught the ferry back at 4 in the pouring rain which was not too fun to be in. After stopping by a few more sops around the Regattas we finally made it balk home to get warm and dry before dinner.

Although it was pouring and hurricane winds were blowing around us my roomies and I had a great time hanging out inside watching Grey’s Anatomy. Finally dinner rolled around and we all celebrated our great trip at a restaurant called Curly Tails. Looking up and down the table the smiles on everyone’s face proved how great our trip was and how our experiences that we had here would never be forgotten.

Amanda, Ilana, and Melinda

Last day :(

2009-12-18T07:05:00.000-08:00

Thursday, our last day with the kids, brought us a mix of emotions. As we made our way over to ECC, we made a quick stop at “Party Time” to get the kids some treats and little toys. Our prep time was used wisely, helping to document all of the programs on our group’s eight computers and making sure all our new equipment was inventoried. All four of our classes were feeling more comfortable with the technology already and their rapid achievement since Monday was apparent. In our first class, the kids were all working individually with a laptop, Hooked on Phonics game, Vtech, or watching an ABC slideshow. Ms. Mel made sure to document what items worked for what kids and was excited to dig through more of the new equipment to continue to use with the children. It was an awesome week with that group. We were lucky enough to have some kids talk to us that had not before, another we discovered knew all his ABC’s and how to spell his numbers, even though he never spoke to us. Every member of the class improved in some way, even if it was as simple as us being able to engage him in a slideshow. It was hard to leave these little 3-7 year olds and I know all three of us did not want to let go when they gave us our goodbye hugs.

Our second class was awesome as always, too. They all had their own laptops today and had a variety of software to choose from. We found it exciting that the majority chose to work on typing software, in order to excel in their skill level and speed. We assisted Ms. Amanda in downloading all the software appropriate for her class’ skill level on her new laptop and trust that they will all continue to use and benefit from the equipment we brought. They shared their life skills school work with us, as we got to try all the delicious Christmas cookies they had made! The highlight of this class was definitely their Christmas performance they shared with us at the end, though. It was their own Bohemian version of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” and the class even made up their own lyrics! There were drummers, dancers, and singers; it was a truly amazing performance by this talented class!

The next class we were supposed to have was busy working with the IT and video media groups all week, so during this time we had a little instructional class with the teachers and Ms. Lyn. We made sure all of the teachers felt comfortable with the new equipment and software, and with Ed’s help we taught them how to use the very useful Personal Response System. This assists the teachers in engaging the class in a game like manner, so that they can instantly evaluate how much of the class understands new concepts. Each child gets a remote and is able to key in the answer they believe is correct to the question shown on the projector. It is a valuable item and a great way to review class material. We really hope all the teachers take full advantage of it, even after we leave.

Our fourth class also had all of their own laptops again today and continued to enjoy all of the software. In this class their favorites seem to be math and typing, and I know Ms. Kim is also excited about the science and spelling software! It was great to see Ms. Kim’s enthusiasm about all the new opportunities her class will receive through this technology. We helped her get all of the software her class was using on her new laptop, also. Once again, their improvement was noticeable and we were so thrilled about how quickly all the kids caught on to using the new technology.

We ended our time at ECC with a skit performed by Mr. Mar’s class. They demonstrated the struggles they go through and the stigma brought on to them for going to this school. They were determined to only let the negative make them stronger, however, and expressed how proud they are of themselves and each other. It is clear how close of a community this is and how welcoming they are with everyone. This was truly something I know we will all remember forever. Ms. Lyn thanked us and the children gave us generous thank you gifts. She extended a warm welcome to any of us wanting to come back as volunteers or teachers, and I know many of us would love to work with these wonderful kids again. It was a bittersweet ending, but we all learned a lot from these children that will stick with us through the days to come. They are a symbol of hope, motivation, and determination and we are all so thankful to have had this opportunity.

Final Farewell

2009-12-17T21:26:00.000-08:00

Today was our last day at ECC, and it was a very busy day. After waking up and taking a cab to the school, we began tying up all the loose ends which had yet to be finished. The A/V repair group had to finish repairing computers, teach students how to maintain their systems, and finish providing all the teachers with their new computers.
Sterling and Ed were in charge of doling out the teacher machines. Ed gave a new computer to Ms. Julie. Fortunately Ms. Julie was already very knowledgeable about computers. Ed set up her administrator account and gave her a mouse as she was having trouble with the laptop touchpad. Ed also gave a computer to David. He is also knowledgeable about computers and was given an ubantu machine instead of the usual windows xp. Sterling gave out computers to Ms. Nicole and Ms. Margaret. Both teachers were computer literate and therefore did not need too much help. Sterling also set up a desktop in Ms. Nicole’s room for students to use.
In addition to handing out computers, the A/V group continued teaching a small group of students about IT issues. These students really wanted to learn, and teaching them was one of the most enjoyable parts of the trip. We walked them through troubleshooting today, as when we live they will be relied on to support all the computers at their school.
We also continued repairing computers for used by the students. Due to the large number of laptops and small number of repair group members, we were not able to finish all of the machines. We made sure that the students were trained to handle these, as well as any unforeseen, issues in the future.
Leaving was bittersweet. Everyone in our group, as well as all the other groups, had grown attached to the students at ECC. We were sad to leave as there were still many things we could have done given the time. However I do think that we made a difference in the lives of these students and am glad that we were given the opportunity.

Continuing Education

2009-12-16T19:18:00.000-08:00

Today was another quick morning for our group. All the bacon and eggs we bought to cook has not even been used. We have concluded that no matter how early we go to bed, the school work makes us so tired that we wake up tired. Today, we rode a nice cab to the school and got right to work. We had another day of teaching. John worked with one of our better students, Roberto, on making ethernet cables. Sterling worked with our least advanced students on computer repair. Ed, Billy, and Alex worked with the other students on computer repair and troubleshooting. Towards the end of the day, Carrie stepped in and helped teach and overview the students repair internet connectivity. By the end of the day, more computers had been fixed and our group felt more comfortable with the students abilities to fix computers on their own. After school we took a cab back to the Regattas and went directly to the dive shop from there. After picking up our flippers and mask we went to mermaid reef to go snorkeling. All of our group members really enjoyed the reef. From the reef we came back to the Regattas and then went of to Jamie’s Place for dinner. Although, they were out of conch fritters our group enjoyed the lobster, snapper, shrimp, and chicken. We were all deeply upset and devastated because we were not able to have any conch fritters. However,the food was very reasonable and delicious. From dinner we came back to the hotel and met for a nightly meeting. The meeting went very well and gave us an opportunity to plan for the next day.

Alex, Billy, Sterling, and John

Every Child Counts

2009-12-16T18:44:00.001-08:00

I have been able to take a slightly different perspective throughout this experience. Working at ECC is incredible. The students are inspiring and I can expect that they will change the world. But they aren’t the only ones who I know will make a difference.

Working in first year programming, I knew all of the incoming students by their demographic information. I played a small role in facilitating their transition into the collegiate atmosphere. I’ve been able to interact with a some of the first year class and truly get to know them as people. But I didn’t feel quite satisfied enough with that level of interaction. So when I was given the opportunity to go to Abaco with the Bridging the Digital Divide RCC, I jumped at the chance.

Heading down here, I wasn’t quite sure what I was getting into, but I knew I wanted to get to know these students on a more personal level. Half way through the trip, I recognize how honored I am to witness their learning first hand.

I’ve been so impressed with the questions they have asked regarding societal inequities, economic deprivation, and what it means to live in a country in which advancement is not a given. They’ve recognized the privileges they enjoy as students at Rollins as compared to the struggles the students at ECC face. What’s more is that they recognize their responsibility in working in solidarity with people who have had different life experiences than we have.

One message I have heard from our students on a consistent basis throughout this trip is how much the kids at ECC have impacted them. A few of our students even had tears in their eyes as one class practiced a skit that points out the stigmas kids at ECC face daily. I couldn’t help but feel emotional as I witness our students’ growth during this experience.

In a few days we will leave Abaco. More importantly, we will leave as changed individuals. We will have gained a greater understanding of what it means to truly be Global Citizens and Responsible Leaders. And that has made all the difference.

-Deanna Davis

Rollins Explorations

SHARKS!

2009-12-16T18:18:00.001-08:00

Today was our third day at ECC. Eager to continue teaching the children, we left for our walk to the school at eight o’clock sharp. We used our beginning planning period to finish loading and making sure each of games were on all of the computers. Today Ms. Mel, (the teacher of the first class who for the past two days had been absent) was here, and helped to fully explain each child’s strengths and disabilities. We also brought more laptops into the classroom today, which seemed to intrigue and help a few of the kids.
In the second class of the day, we were also able to bring in more computers (than we were able to yesterday), allowing the majority of the kids to have their own computer. The students were very excited, and kept really quiet the whole time while concentrated on their choice of math, typing, science, or english games. Also, we loaded the same games onto the teacher’s computer because we established that it would be beneficial for her to have them as well to use for lesson planning.
We were a little disappointed to find that we only had two students in our third class. Quickly we changed our lesson plans to satisfy what the students wanted to learn; how to digitally edit pictures online. We used a commonly known website named “Picnic” to teach them how to do this.
We ended our school day on a great note because each student in our fourth class got to participate individually on their own computer. Just like the second class, these students also played math, science, and english games, but they also made use of the large Crayola keyboards. Part of what makes this all the more worthwhile is the teacher has repeatedly how excited and happy she is to have this wonderful tool in their hands.
After our walk home from school we quickly got ready and headed back to Dive Abaco to grab gear for snorkeling in Mermaid Reef.
Mermaid Reef was really cool because in order to get to the reef we walked/swam about fifty feet until we reached the reef. It was absolutely beautiful, there were several different kinds of colorful fish that swam really near to us, and some people saw a stingray, and a select few even saw a shark! After snorkeling we headed back, showered and went to dinner together at a restaurant called Jamie’s Place. Tomorrow will be a hard day, as we all feel like we could and would spend more time with Every Child Counts. Although the goodbyes will be hard, it helps to know the impact we have made is a big one.

Forming Relationships

2009-12-15T20:06:00.000-08:00

Today was an exciting day for the repair group. It was the first day that we would be able to teach students at ECC about both computer hardware and software. We had very little information as to the level of computer competency of the students and thus had to design the instruction on the fly. For instance the students that we worked with were much more advanced than we had previously thought.
We began the morning updating computers that we had been unable to get to the previous day. Then at 9:15 our entire group had a meet and greet with the students with whom we would be working. After getting to know the kids a bit we divide into two groups. John and Sterling continued to work on getting more laptops operational, as well as work on the internet network. Billy, Alex, and Ed took the students through basic hardware and software lessons. Alex was the leader of the section on hardware basics. He showed them the main components of both laptop and desktop computers.
Next, Billy led the lesson on windows and software basics. We wanted to make sure they had basic computer knowledge and therefore started at step one. We learned however that most of these students were in fact quite knowledgeable and therefore we did not need to spend as much time on this as previously thought.
The last class consisted of showing the students Ethernet cables and basic networking configurations. We also showed them how to run basic preventative maintenance on their machines such as virus protection and running updates. At 2:00 we left ECC and went to the island’s prestigious private school, Forest Heights Academy. We were given a tour and were all very impressed by the technology and resources which the school had. The last part of our day consisted of an invasive species removal on the only public beach in Marsh Harbour. Many people at first did not want to participate in “weed pulling,” but most soon realized that our help had made an important difference. For dinner we had pizza on the beach. Tomorrow we will have another day of teaching and helping ECC become more technologically savvy.

departure! :) finally

2009-12-15T16:31:00.000-08:00

It is finally the day, to go to the Bahamans! Boarding the flight we were a bit concerned when we saw someone pushing one of the propellers back and forth. These concerns were then doubled when we saw a sign painted on the side of the plane that said, “Cut here in an emergency”. Thank goodness that Jen had snuck a pair of scissors on the plane! Everyone was holding his or her breath as the plane turned on and began to pick up speed. If you were to close your eyes you would think you were in a relaxing massage chair, but if you remembered you were on a plane it was way less relaxing.

We were comforted when we saw the runway approaching and the excitement went through the roof. Although Tad lost his luggage and there were a few room confusions, we finally arrived to our villas on the beautiful ocean. Although the sights were beautiful, it was straight to work for us. We met with Scott Hewit to discuss our lesson plan for Monday. It was great to get to talk with him so that he would help us make our program for the students truly great and beneficial.

After the planning and unpacking we got a feel for the land and then had the chance to experience a Bahamian grocery store. With prices through the roof and a few rude people along the way, it was an experience that we would not forget as we searched the aisles for low prices on a large array of American food.

Running back through the rain with our groceries was a humorous sight to see and by the time we had organized all of the food it was ready to experience our first taste of true Bahamian food. We went to a place called the Jib Room, which had a fun atmosphere and great food. It was the perfect way to start off our days here in the Bahamas. Although the day was filled with adventures, the weather had been crummy the whole day but we are holding out hope that tomorrow will be brighter and filled with more adventures!

Amanda, Ilana, Melinda

our second round :)

2009-12-15T16:30:00.001-08:00

Today we woke up a lot more confident with what was going to come in the day! We were prepared with two computers, loads of computer games, and also a game plan. We brought another v-teck to the first class that we have because the kids really liked that game and were fighting over it the first day.

In our fist class we worked more individually with each of the students so that we would really be able to help them individually and get to know them a bit more. Jaxon was working on computer games all class, and by the end he was playing around on them all by himself. Henry today actually began to talk a bit more and another student who had been silent so far began to mumble a few things. It was clear that the class was warming up to us a bit more. They gave us all hugs at the end of the day and it really began to sink in that we were actually making a difference in these children’s lives.

The second class that we went to, just as yesterday, went almost exactly as planned. During this time we only had four computers so we had the students share, but it ended up working very well. They not only learned from the computer games, but also from working with other students. What was most surprising was the fact that the game in that class that most students wanted to play the most was the Mavis Beacon typing game. The boys especially were very interested and were lined up waiting to play.

What was most upsetting about our day was when we went into our third class to have the student’s type up their compositions and they were not there. Apparently they were working with the other IT video guys. Although we wished we could have worked with them because we had a fun lesson plan we were still happy that they were working with technology for the day. This extra time gave us the chance to collect 8 different computers and load them up with difference computer games that we would use with our fourth class so that each student could have their own computer to work on.

Walking into our fourth class the students were jumping out of their seats to get a computer to play on. The big Crayola keyboards were a great hit as well. They al began working on Mavis Beacon typing and then we switched in some math games. The teacher was walking around the classroom as well to learn the different games that we were teaching the students and she seemed really happy with what her students were doing. Our only main problem we had was that one of our students could not sit still for long. He seemed really excited about all the games at the beginning but would quickly lose interest. We talked to the teacher after class to get some ideas on how to approach teaching him which was really helpful.

Looking at Every Child Counts compared to Forest Heights was a complete change. Forest heights not only have AC and wireless Internet, they also had structured classes with art and science labs. It was tough to see just how far behind the students we are working with are. Its not that they are not being taught properly, it’s just that they are at a totally different level. They don’t have the technology to allow them to take that next step, but we hope that with all the work we have done for them it will help them in the long run.

Our ending activity for the day was working with Friends of the Environment extracting foreign species. Although the task seemed daunting at the beginning, it ended up being a lot more fun and much faster than expected. We all worked together to pull, cut, carry, and throw the exotic plants our around and out. Hearing how tough it is to keep these plants off the beach was crazy to hear. Leaving she said that it could not have been done as fast because there were 20 of us and there is only 4 of them. My group is really excited to work with them again because now they see the importance of what they do and how much they can make a difference.

Amanda, Ilana, Melinda

our first day "on the job"

2009-12-14T18:53:00.000-08:00

Monday – our first real day here. We began our 20-minute walk to Every Child Counts at 8:00 a.m. Prepared with our two teaching groups, repair group, digital video group, and professors, we were warmly greeted by eager children and friendly teachers. We were warned that since it was the last week before Christmas break, attendance was down slightly. It was finally beautiful today so I do not want to complain, but it ended up being a little rough due to the fact that ECC does not have air conditioning. Ilana, Amanda, and I are teaching group #1. After two hours for meetings and preparation, we were introduced to our first class of 3-7 year olds, Mrs. Mel’s class. We were shocked to discover this was the class we ended up being least prepared for. The children were adorable and sweet, yet only two of the seven would talk with us. The rest had trouble sitting or listening, so we switched things up a bit and went for story and music time instead. Many of them were able to count to at least ten and recite their ABC’s. However, tomorrow we are planning on doing more one-on-one work with story time and bring our equipment, like the Crayola keyboard and Vtech, to help with technology introduction and spelling. The next group ranges from about 11-14 and today there were eleven of them. They were an awesome group and we really admired their teacher, Ms. Amanda, who is originally from Connecticut and still lives there in the summers. In this class we played some get to know you games and then Pictionary on the white board. The Pictionary was all based on technological items and despite their little use of computers, the children were very knowledgeable. We discussed their wants and needs including, projectors for math work, educational software, fun games, and especially typing practice. Our third group, ages 13-16, all has computers at home and often use them for recreational purposes. The majority of Ms. Julie’s class was boys and they were all pretty shy and quiet. We discussed that they now use computers for chatting, emailing, Facebook, High Five, and games. However, they were all excited to become better at typing and incorporate technology in their classroom. They expressed the desire to use our Personal Response System with their geometry problems, practice typing as the write their comprehension questions and answers from their current reading The Cay, and make PowerPoints about themselves and their futures as a fun way to expand their computer knowledge. To finish the day, we worked with a class ranging from 8-13. They are a functional group and therefore are at many different writing, reading, spelling, math, and social skill levels. We made “get to know me collages” and presented them in front of the class. That was followed by a game of technological Pictionary. Their teacher, Ms. Kim, was most excited out of all our teachers. She expressed how truly beneficial the math, typing, and spelling software will be. All of the children have computers at home, but have never used them for educational purposes. We hope to also use the projector and Personal Response System with this class in order to enhance their memory of what they are learning. Overall, today was very successful, exciting, and rewarding – even though it was an introductory day. We now have to download the software onto the laptops for tomorrow’s classes and solidify the daily lesson plans with Scott. It is bound to be a busy evening, but we all cannot wait to really integrate the digital equipment into the classrooms tomorrow!

Amanda, Melinda, and Ilana

First Day at ECC

2009-12-14T15:13:00.000-08:00

Today was pretty easy to get up as it was our first day at ECC. The first day had finally come that we had been preparing for all semester. After we all ate some breakfast and drank our coffee, we grabbed our packs and hit the main road to walk to the ECC. Once we arrived, the school was a lot different then how I thought it would be. There were two main buildings and one freestanding classroom. I thought the atmosphere was very relaxed as all the classrooms were designed to be very open. We all seemed to take our positions pretty quickly. My group, the video group was introduced to the teacher of our class, Mars. Mars seemed very excited for us to get to work and really looked forward to learning all that we had to offer. His class was made up of about thirteen kids who were the oldest and most advanced.

Our Day began with a warm up, which consisted of Mr. Mars’s class and us. There was a student leader in front of all of us and we were instructed to follow his every move. It seemed like we were back in middle school PE as we all looked at each other awkwardly. This warm up had us rubbing our foreheads to doing jumping jacks in order for us to “stimulate our brains.” Although it was an odd experience, I think we all secretly had fun reverting back to our earlier education.

Once we all returned back to the classroom we started the regular class day off with a chapter of reading that we each read with two kids. Their reading was pretty good, only a missed word here or there. The level was probably compared to that off the 5^th grader, but there insight seemed to be at their own age level. The while school system was very different from our own, there was no grade levels, but just levels in general based on their knowledge and over all ability. Even though we had the “most advanced” class the ages ranged from 14-18. They seemed to like everything that other teenagers like, music, sports, driver’s licenses exc.

We finally took action and jumped right into what we came for. We put some questions on the board and had them answer on a separate piece of paper so we could assess their technology levels. Based on these results, we split them into groups. Each group was assigned one of us as a group leader with the exception of Mark who bounced around and helped us out. We went over shooting, recording, and hardware so they would be prepared to film tomorrow. After the school day was over, we were definitely exhausted but as we reflected back on it there was definitely a feeling of satisfaction.

our strengthening bond

2009-12-13T19:45:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was an exhausting day of traveling, so needless to say we had great night sleep for our 9am snorkeling trip! Captain Keith chartered us out. He originally asked if we wanted to reschedule for tomorrow because of the chilly, windy weather (I was wearing black Nike sport pants and my rain jacket), but we faced the choppy ocean head on. It actually wasn’t bad, Keith even admitted it to be better than he was expecting. Manda, Amanda and I sat at the bow of the boat on the way out and got absolutely drenched by, what Keith described as, the ocean ‘spray’. We had our wetsuits on, however, so the cold did not take away from our fun! We laughed almost the whole 30minutes out.
Snorkeling has always been a favorite of mine. I love how the ocean silences all the externalities of the outside world. Despite the cold (and when I say cold, I just mean not super hot… we’re all Floridians now!), there was no hesitation for everyone to jump on the ocean. Amanda, Helen and I did the old fall-off-the-side-of-the-boat trick instead of using the ladder.
The ocean was still a little rough so I don’t think there was as many fish as there usually would be, but we saw a lot of barracuda, schools of fish, coral reef, and a turtle!! It was fun but it took a lot out of us, we all fell asleep on the boat ride back! (Except for Manda who went back to the bow of the boat to get drenched… this time with her snorkeling goggles on).
We made our own lunches when we got back the villas, and only a few hours later it was 5:00 and we were off to Pete’s Pub (owned by a former Rollins graduate!) for dinner. *5:00 was not to be mistaken for an early dinner, however, because it took a good 40minutes of scenic Abaco to get there! Pete’s Pub was super cool. It was, for a lack of more descriptive words, in the middle of nowhere. They were actually saying that parts of the Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed there! There were no walls, only large wooden pillars, and shirts on the ceilings from people who have ate there (we brought and signed a Rollins t-shirt!). The meals were AMAZING. I had grilled grouper marinated with a sweet mango glaze… it had my mouth watering at every succulent bite mmmmmm, SO GOOD!!
It had been a big day in the sun today, and right when everyone was fading, Ed came running from the beach to herd everyone to look at the stars on the other side. With virtually no light pollution (we almost had trouble walking across the well paved path because it was so dark!) we were stunned in place with our necks tilted back to the sky. The stars were as numerous and bright as I think anyone had ever seen them before. People able to point out O’Ryan’s Belt, the Big Dipper and the Milky Way to the astrology inept others in the group, me being one. It was truly awesome looking around and seeing us all together on the beach, looking at the stars, and participating in recreational interaction as a whole group for, perhaps, the first time this trip.

from water to stars

2009-12-13T19:34:00.000-08:00

This morning it was very hard to get out of bed when the weather outside was very windy and cloudy. When our neighbor Tad came over for coffee, he shared the impact of not having his luggage as he was trying to find a pair of contacts to go snorkeling with. Luckily by the time we were dressed and ready to go at 8:30 the weather had cleared up and turned into a nice sunny day. At the end of our short walk to the Dive Abaco, a friendly man (with a great memory for names) greeted us and helped us to match flippers to feet, masks to faces and wetsuits to bodies. From there we all boarded his boat and took about a 30 minuet ride to one of the reefs we explored today. During this ride three brave endearing souls sat in the (unexpected) slap zone and got completely soaked. Already sopping wet and excited to get off the boat Amanda, Jen, and Helen decided to flip off the side of the boat backwards and as quickly as they fell off so did their masks. Once in the water we really enjoyed the view, the reef was beautiful including the fish swimming around it! We swam through schools of fish, saw some vicious barracudas, and (some) even saw multiple sea turtles. Cold and tired with shriveled hands and toes, quite of few of us took a nice nap on the ride back to the dock. After washing all of our equipment, we headed back to our rooms for a long break before dinner.

Getting on to the bus little did we know the ride would be 45 minuets half of it down a dirt road. As we went the bus driver shared her wealth of information about the island including the fact that parts of Pirates of the Caribbean were filmed at the very restaurant we ate in tonight. Before we ate we got to meet Heather a Rollins alumni, who now runs the foundry located next to the restaurant. For dinner we got to choose from an array of fresh fish, and other assorted foods like hamburgers and grilled cheese. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their meals as we sat with our feet in the sand. After dinner we all took a walk down to the beach only to find the night sky lit up with bright stars. We got especially excited when we were able to make wishes on multiple shooting stars! It was the perfect end to a fun day and we are looking forward to being able to see the school and meet all of the kids we will be teaching tomorrow.

Eve of Trip

2009-12-11T22:19:00.000-08:00

We are leaving tomorrow or should I say today and have now prepared as much as possible. The students have been split into 4 groups. The groups are A/V Repair, Teching with Technology 1 & 2 and Digital Video. The students have worked very hard in preparation which you can see by viewing thier attached lesson plans:
A/V Repair
General Teaching Group 1
General Teaching Group 2
Digital Video
There will be daily posts by the various groups which should be very enjoyable to read. We look forward to posting soon!