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MOSS BLOG ARCHIVES - December 2008
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K-12 PROGRAMS: ADVANCING HEALTHY AND ACTIVE LIVING
by Gary Thompson
Operations and Leadership Director
David Allen and Rachel Arndt have been cooking something up. It smells
like the development of an amazing food and nutritional program for the
McCall Outdoor Science School. David, the MOSS Kitchen Manager and
Rachel Arndt, a local nutritionist, have been meeting every few weeks
to discuss food service goals, the relationship between nutrition and
human performance and sharing some awesome recipes.
Three areas of focus have come out of the meetings:
- What food is served at MOSS and why
- How to increase student knowledge of nutrition and its role in
overall health
- How to encourage students to try new and exciting foods
On May 1st, with the help of an award from the General Mills Champions
for Healthy Kids grant program, we plan on rolling out our new menu and
healthy and active lifestyles curriculum, including the addition of
pedometers to measure exactly how far MOSS kids walk to do science.
David and his staff are excited to have the opportunity to demonstrate
that it is possible to serve students healthy food in an institutional
setting. I’m not sure but there could be a cookbook in the future.
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GRADUATE/AMERICORPS PROGRAM: I SMELL WINTER
by Karla Bradley
Director of Education
The calendar promises that winter is coming soon, but you would never
know it with the balmy 40 degrees we had this week. Still, in spite of
the fact that there seems to be little immediate evidence to support my
claim, I believe with all my being that winter will in fact show up
again this year. And if I think about it honestly, there have been
many signs that it is truly on its way. The way the air smells in
the morning, the frost on the golf course, the honking birds that
buzzed overhead, the shorter days, and the totally bare aspen trees are
good indicators that change IS actually happening.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot as our graduate residents prepare
to present artifacts that they have collected this fall that they may
include in their teaching portfolios, to be completed by the end of the
summer. With the long hours and constant pace of activity in the fall
residential season, it is sometimes hard for our graduate residents to
pick out pieces of evidence to show that they are not quite the same
people who stepped onto our campus in August. But now that fall’s
last group of school children has come and gone, we have a chance to
pause, breathe deeply, and take stock of who we are now. At first
glance, it may be hard to see that anything has changed. But still, I
believe with all my being that change has happened again this year, as
it has with every class of residents. I look forward to seeing and
hearing about the many small signs that big change is afoot –
confidence that is building, understanding that is growing, personal
tool kits that have a few more pieces.
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COMMUNITY PROGRAMS: MAKING A DIFFERENCE
by Lynne Westerfield
Community Development Coordinator
Tim, a MOSS field instructor, called from inside the crawl space of one
of the houses his crew was working on. His voice came across muffled.
"We need more insulation," he said. "How much?" I asked. "As much as
you can get us. Ooo..it's a mess down here." He's sounding pleased.
It was Make a Difference Day 2008 and under the guidance of local
experts Frosty and Jim Olson, teams of MOSS field instructors and
volunteers caulked, weatherstripped, checked attics and crawl spaces,
turned down water heaters and added insulation wherever they could.
Some houses didn't need much work at all, but we could have spent all
day at several houses. One home owner said, "Oh my! This is much more
than just an audit. I didn't know you'd be able to do so much." After
a hard day of work, our four teams delivered a total of 16 energy
audits and weatherization visits in McCall, Donnelly and Cascade.
The program began this fall when Idaho Power visited our field campus
to train fifteen field instructors and AmeriCorps members in energy
concepts and audit delivery. Field instructors practiced
weatherization on our field campus (which always needs extra warmth)
and then headed out to Valley County homes to make a difference on
National Make a Difference Day, a nationally recognized day of service.
THANK YOU to the Idaho Community Foundation, which funded
supplies for the audits, and to Craig Perseo and ProBuild (formerly
Lumbermens) for helping that funding go even further by giving us a
discount on supplies. |
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