The winter really continued throughout March. Even the warm days we experienced were followed by snow!
Our first visit to the Warren County
Community College was made at the
beginning of the month, to explore the idea of Jack attending there
part-time in September. The staff we met were helpful and friendly and
immediately put us at our ease. We spent a long time talking with one
of the advisors, and then she showed us around the college. It is a
very compact campus, which we feel will be perfect for Jack. He was
very excited about the whole process, and what he might be able to do
there. The one major hurdle he had to overcome was to take the
placement test. Phil and Jack returned at the end of the month after
Jack had spent three weeks practicing the Accuplacer test questions for
Math and English, in place of his regular grammar and math. The hard
work paid off, and Jack did so well that he doesn't have to take any of
the developmental classes. English is his strong suit anyway, but even
in math he passed College Algebra 101, so he can start on pre-calculus.
Jack's least favorite subject is math, so the fact he did so well was a
weight off his mind. This also means that Jack can start on the
college-level classes straight away in September.
This month saw Jack completing the Orchestration Course he has been
taking with Berklee Online Music School. He is also signed up for two
further courses with the same institution, and will be starting the
"Introduction to Game Audio" class in April. His final project piece
should be playing as you read this page.
On International Women's Day, we attended an excellent Living Voices production about how women obtained the vote in the US. It was a one-woman show, performed interactivly with a DVD video. Quite thought provoking.
The Energy Project continued, and involved taking a trip to Rutgers
University, to attend the Teen Climate Change Summit. The
students had been well prepared and enjoyed the various presentations
and workshops. They got to attend a lecture by the NJ State
Climatologist; some of them saw the robotic underwater gliders, which
are used to measure the ocean temperature, and salinity; while the rest
learned about using aquatic micro-plants as an alternative energy
source. We also had Mike Dennis, who runs Traditional Earth
Skills, come and speak to the us about how native peoples
used energy, and what we can learn from that today. Everyone had a
chance to make fire by friction and enjoyed using the atlatl. We
rounded off March with a visit to Shippen Manor, where we met a former
iron miner, Dwayne Sweet, who worked in Oxford in the 1960s. The
curator, Andy Drysdale, expounded upon the history of Oxford Iron
Furnaces, and Shippen Manor's importance to the Industrial Revolution.
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For Lorna, the highlight of March was receiving the NJ Green Award
for High School Teacher, 2011. We attended the award ceremony at Kean
University. It was a great honor to receive this, as there were many
outstanding candidates who received an honorable mention, but not the
coverted "boggie". We have to thank Pam, for nominating Lorna, and it
was a pleasure to have her join us for lunch and the ceremony. The
awards were a part of the NJ Green Festival, so we had a chance to
visit the vendors and displays after the ceremony. Lorna felt very
special!
We ran our Winter Weeds workshop and walk on the last Saturday, on a bright, but cold day. Despite two inches of snow still lying in New Jersey, just across the Delaware in Lower Mount Bethel, PA, we saw some of the first spring flowers; The Welcome Center, where we were based, lies in a sheltered valley, and the building itself is a bit of a sun trap, so the snow had melted there were blue and white flowers nestled against the south facing walls. The attendence was low, but they were a very interested group and fun to present to and work with. Later that day we enjoyed a walk with PPL Community Outreach Specialist, Alana Roberts. Alnna led us on a great walk in search of Spring!
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We also had several new families come into membership at our church; a treat for our small, but special community.
As part of our ongoing celebration of our silver wedding year, we hope you enjoy these photos of our friends, Julie and Ian, who celebrated their 25th anniversary on the 22nd. Congratulations Julie and Ian!
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