Students
worked toward earning an entry level operator's license for ham radio, got on
the air with a licensed operator, spent an evening with hobbyists putting a radio
transmitter in a rocket, sending it off and tracking it down, went on a "fox
hunt" in Elkhart County tracking down other operators via radio transmitter,
and toured an air traffic control tower using radio transmission in South Bend
Airport.
Participants
worked for Habitat for Humanity in a depressed community in the Cumblerland Moutnains
near Robbins, Tenn., which was devastated by recent tornadoes and in need of housing.
Participants did various home repairs.
Students
were involved in various activities such as caving, canoeing, service projects,
leadership workshops, journaling, backpacking, challenge course activities, high
elements, and climbing.
The
group canoed about fifty miles on the Greene River in Kentucky by day and camped
next to the river in primitive camp sites by night. (Photos not available).
The
group spent two days at Ferry Farm, the boyhood home of George Washington in Fredericksburg,
Va., working with archaeologists on an actual dig. In addition to this hands-on
introduction to archaeology, they toured the archaeological site of the original
Jamestown Fort built in 1607. They also visited reconstructed living history sites
at Jamestown and Colonial Williamsburg: boarding replicas of the ships that brought
people to the first permanent English settlement in America at Jamestown, visiting
with people portraying Native Americans and colonists, and participating in demonstrations
of colonial life.
Students
were introduced to various recreational activities that can be practiced for a
lifetime: golf, swimming, volleyball, Frisbee golf, racquetball, tennis, and others.
Students
explored tropical rainforests and coral reefs, observing plant and animal life
unique to those ecosystems. The group snorkeled a couple of different coral reefs
and a grassy flat by the San Blas Islands in the Caribbean. Students visited with
two different indigenous groups in their villages.
Students
created various stained glass projects including a Christmas ornament and a larger
project such as kaleidoscopes, window hangings, jewelry boxes, and glass mosaics
on patio bricks. Each student learned to cut and grind glass and prepared the
glass for soldering.
