December 11, 2010

This past Saturday night we all loaded into the vans to go ice-skating. It was on an iced-over outside basketball court in Leadville and it was opening day for the rink! We all had fun skating around and pushing each other in chairs on the ice. It was a great way to be together as a community.

On Sunday, our activity was going to Read's house. Read's house is an off-the-grid, eco-friendly house. His house is made of rammed earth and it runs on wind power and solar energy. Before he constructed the house, he spent a lot of time at the site watching and observing different weather patterns so that he could get the most energy from his solar panels and wind turbine. His house faces south, with large windows facing the sun. The idea is that, due to the southern exposure and in a sunny place like Colorado, his house traps the heat during the day so that it is warm at night. His house is very nice and cozy and when we were sitting in it, we couldn't tell that it was completely green. He has a composting toilet and a solar heated hot tub. Being at Read's house made some of us want to live completely off the grid when we are older.

This week was a busy week academically at HMI. Since it was our last week of classes, we were busy doing a lot of projects. In Practices and Principles, each student had to introduce his/her personal environmental ethic to the class in a 3-5 minute presentation. The presentations were diverse and compelling. Some students made elaborate Powerpoint presentations to portray his/her ethic, while others opted to sing a song. For science class, we also did presentations. Each student chose a specific species that is affected by global climate change, made a multi-media presentation about it, and explained to the class why it was worth saving. After all of the presentations, the class then voted on which species we wanted to save. As for English, we created our final portfolios, which included seven of our favorite pieces we had written this semester. 

We did make time for activities, even in the midst of this busy week. We drank yerba mate and played board games, delved into creative writing, tried our hands at knitting, tutored local students, enjoyed the winter wonderland by nordic skiing, playing snow rugby, and sledding. Overall, we've had many chances to enjoy the snow and relax despite the craziness of our last week of classes. 

By: Mary Anne "MAB" Bodnar, Natalie Margolin, & Hanna Detlefs