Today we finished a mural in the first room that included hot air balloons and fascinatingly designed trees. In the second room, we created a sea atmosphere. The wall was painted dark blue and covered in sea animals such as an octopus, a school of fish, a marvelous dolphin, and an electric eel. ...
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Day 4: The Habitat House
Today, we finally returned to help rebuild the Habitat house in Riverside. Before we left, the group played games such as Jenga, chess, and Connect 4 while listening to older music (courtesy of Mr. Thompson and Mr. Newman!). When we arrived at the house, we cleared out all the supplies in order to lay...
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Costa Rica: Dispatch from Coope San Juan
Mrs. Barna sent a text to say that all is well in Coope San Juan!...
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Kimmel, Comcast, and Barnes
Today, we started off at the Kimmel Center, located on the Avenue of the Arts. Designed by Rafael Vinoly, the Kimmel Center contains many spaces, including Verizon Hall, Perelman Theater, and the Dorrance H. Hamilton Roof Garden, all of which we visited. Verizon Hall and Perelman Theater are, in fact, two separate buildings; in...
Continue readingEgypt to China
On Tuesday, we visited the fascinating collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts in the Penn Museum. Before we left, we educated ourselves on the difference between archaeologists and anthropologists. For those of you who don’t know, anthropology is the study of humans and archaeology are the study of the past. We saw real mummies and...
Continue readingLacrosse Day All Day
Today started bright and early with a scorching practice. Remembering from last year how talented the Desert Vista offense is, we implemented a new wrinkle in our defensive squad: the “In and Out” zone defense, named after In and Out Burger, the team’s habitual burger joint in Arizona. After a hardworking practice in which...
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The Philippines: 7,107 Islands of Deep History!
On Monday morning, one of our students introduced the class to some Vietnamese culture! She brought in some of her lovely dresses, and gave us some lessons on the geography. She also filled us in on the timeline, with the general history of the country! Next, we traveled to the local Filipino Cultural Center, with...
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Medici are Everywhere!
Today in Florence, we went to San Lorenzo, the parish of the Medicis, the Medici Riccardi Palace,the Medici’s former home, and the Palazzo Vecchio, the former government offices of the Medicis. San Lorenzo was the Medici’s parish church, and although it appears rather ordinary from the outside, it was strikingly elegant on the inside. We...
Continue readingHolguín, Cuba: A Day In The Life
To begin the day, we continued the construction on the church that will provide shelter for the community as well as a meeting place for other visitors and Quaker conferences. The construction tools that we used were simple, so we transferred materials to the second floor of the new building using unconventional strategies: a...
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Day in Lyon
Today we woke up early in the morning and experienced breakfast in the town of Lyon. After we all had our delicious breakfast we proceeded with our day by walking to our service project site, a bicycle school called Maison du Vélo. We all split up into groups and got to do different service...
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Exploring Art: Pine Barrens
Today we saw a MOOSE in New Jersey! Just kidding! This is one of the sculptures created in the Pine Barrens today. The Moose is Loose! Before heading out to Pakim Pond in the New Jersey Pine Barrens we spent the first hour of the day collecting the supplies that we needed to finish...
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Foxes 3-0 in Myrtle Beach
It was a busy day for the Baseball team. This morning we got up early and put in another morning of service at the Low Country Food Bank. After a few hours of organizing food donations and packing them up for distribution, we got on the bus to head over to the Cal Ripken Experience...
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Philly Architecture, Seen From Way Up High
Today we visited the Cathedral and the Masonic Temple, two of the most ornate buildings in the city, had lunch at the famous Reading Terminal Market, and finished the day at City Hall over 900 feet up in the air, with a view of almost all of Philadelphia and the surrounding area. -LG First...
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Blacksmithing Day 3: Throwing in Some Woodturning
Today students hopped right back into blacksmithing along with some work on the lathes. Three students completed canes, and other students completed projects like a hanger, a candle holder, and an “M.” The group has mastered the techniques to get the forges going in the morning and have been working on more difficult techniques....
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The Fab Four
Today, day 3 of Woods to Walls, the Fab Four, consisting of Mr. Brunswick, George, Mankaran, and Ewan heroically built six out of ten benches for the outside classroom. These will go in the outdoor classroom that Kenasia, Phil, Teddy, Sagar, and Kierra also helped to build. Despite minor setbacks, all of the groups worked hard...
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