Change of Location

Last Friday, I had another meeting with Stephen, Lee, and the students who are going to attend the Creativity Week camping trip, and Lee informed us that there is a possibility that we weren’t going to be able to camp at Lake Houston because the park is closed on Tuesday. She said we can work around this, but we won’t be able to camp at the park for two days as we planned.

After the meeting, Stephen, Lee, and I looked up different parks, and agreed that we would research different park over the weekend so we can find another location. Stephen informed me on Tuesday that Lee found another location called Big Thicket National Preserve. Stephen said that both him and Lee liked the area, and I agreed with them as well after I looked it up.

So now we are not camping at Lake Houston anymore, we are heading out to Big Thicket National Preserve this coming Monday. Here is a picture of where Big Thicket is located.

Image is from Google Maps.

Who’s on board?

So far I’ve heard from two people whom are willing to be on my panel. One of them is Stephen Vrla and the other is Rob Christy. Stephen had already told me he will help me out, but this is just a formal “Yes”. I’ve been planning the trip with Stephen, and so far everything is going smoothly.

I haven’t talked about my project with Rob Christy, but I will email him and explain where I’m at with my project. I will also meet him in person during our school’s Gala which is on February 23rd. I will be sitting at his table, so I hope we can get to know each other and talk about my project as well.

The Dream Team

The advisory panel for my project will consist of four people; my mentor, one teacher from my school, a board member from my school, and an expert in the field of outdoor leadership. So far I have three members whom are willing to help me out with my project: Robert Vasquez, Stephen Vrla, and Rob Christy. Robert Vasquez is my mentor, Stephen Vrla is a teacher and dorm parent for the middle school boys, and Rob Christy is a board member who expressed interest in helping me with my project. The only person I’m missing is an expert in the field. One of my class mates, Ana Flores, said she knows a member of the Sierra Club and gave me his email, so I could ask if he is willing to be on my panel. I’m almost done completing my panel, and hopefully I can fill in the last spot soon.

The Book is Here!

I ordered a book from Barnes & Nobel called Outdoor Leadership. I recently received the book, and it looks very promising. I think it will be a useful tool for preparing me for the camping trip during Creativity Week. The book consists of teaching different techniques of leadership and how to successfully preform those techniques. The book also teaches the reader other aspects such as how to deal with stress, how to resolve conflict, and how believe in yourself. I feel that this book will be a strong stepping stone on which I can build my camping trip off of.

Here is a link for you to preview the book: Outdoor Leadership

The Trip

So the big question is “What am I going to do?” So far, I have joined a Creativity Week group with two teachers, Stephen Vrla and Lee Bryant. Today we had our first meeting with all of the group members who are going to participate in the trip. There are about twenty students in total, and Stephen, Lee, and I gave them an overview of what we are going to be doing throughout the trip. Stephen is going to teach environmental ethics, and Lee is going to teach art; I’m going to teach the basics of camping and leadership to the students.

The location of the trip will be at Lake Houston. We will spend one night on campus to get everyone comfortable with camping, and spend the next two nights at Lake Houston. On the last day, Thursday, we will come back to campus for the all-school presentation and during this day we will present our Creativity Week project to the whole school.

Currently, everything is working out well. All we need to do is prepare for the trip by gathering the equipment, food, and other things needed for the trip. I still have to prepare my part of the project by creating my agenda and the activities I will make the group participate in, but the preparation is going smoothly. So to answer the question asked above, this is what I’m going to do.