Weekend Visit

This weekend was a good one for me, in that the week leading up to it was a very hectic one, but the weekend was much more relaxed. That's because I was fortunate enough(or unfortunate, depending on how you look at it), to have been cast in two one act plays that the drama club put on this past Friday. However, that did mean a lot of work for me this week, as we had a lot of rehearsal time in order to make sure everything was top notch for the performances, and that meant twice the amount of time as others that were only involved in one. I had many nights of coming from work, grabbing a quick bite to eat, and then going to rehearsal for a few hours before I could even think about starting my homework. That's not to say I'm complaining, as I wouldn't have signed up for this if I didn't love it.
Thankfully, all that hard work was not for nothing, as the plays turned out wonderfully, and the audience loved them. Particularly the second one I was in, which was a spoof of the Harry Potter series in which we attempted to tell the entire story in 40 minutes. I played Hagrid and Dumbledore, and it was great fun. Following the good vibes of a good performance, I was also lucky enough that my parents came up to see them, and then visit for the weekend. Though it had only been a week since I saw them laat, it was still nice after this stressful week to have a taste of home. We toured all around the greater Burlington area, enjoyed the outdoors while we still could, ate some delicious food, and had a nice time. It was really something I needed, especially right before the last week of classes and with finals right around the corner, as it gave me peace of mind, and will help me focus on what needs to be done before I can get back home.

Problem Walk

Yesterday, in my placement at Winooski High School, we did an interesting activity that I had never experienced before. The students in the Community Based Problem Solving class were brought on a walk around Winooski, given a post it note and a pen, and told to write down any problems that they saw. The idea was to get students thinking about ways to improve their community, as the next step in the class is to move on from making change within the school, to making change in the community. What better way to realize what can be changed, than to get out into the thick of it, and see what is needed to be done?
The students' ideas ranged from reducing the amount of litter found in the area, to making some of the buildings more beautiful, to increasing parking spaces for the school, to improving sidewalk coverage in the area, and much more. The students, having been members of the community for quite some time, definitely were able to find a lot that they could improve. At the end of the walk, each student said one thing that they noticed, perhaps to jog ideas for other students in the future.
This walk got me thinking, not in the way of searching for problems and intending to fix them, but helping me to realize that this is definitely something I am interested in. That is, giving young adults the tools that they need to help make a change in their own lives and in their community, and whatever kind of work that entails both on my end and theirs. I would love for it to have some sort of conservation focus, as I do care a great deal about ecosystems and the like, but really anything relating to improving the world is something I would like to be involved in. I'm not sure where I could accomplish this, but I know this is something that needs to be involved in whatever I end up doing with my life, whether career based or on the side.