October 31, 2008

Over Parents' Weekend, which took place from October 24th – 27th, HMI’s campus was bustling with more than double its usual occupancy. Parents trickled in on Thursday and Friday, until nearly everybody had visitors for Friday night's reception and dinner with parents. We all got to decide where we’d have dinner with our families. We could pick from any of a number of restaurants in town, including Rosie's Brewpub, Manuelita's, and the Tennessee Pass Cafe. It was a fun treat going out on the town with our parents.

We all returned from our respective dinners in town for a welcome bonfire where we got to hear performances from Supreme Justice (RMS XXI’s first boy band), Sylvia’s rendition of the Declaration of Independence written for a young and hip audience, Jeannie’s ode to “magic socks”, Devan’s poem about silence, and Molly and Christopher’s reading about EB (expedition behavior). We also got to hear and participate in an RMS sing-along to Alec and Dan’s strummin’ version of Dispatch’s song “The General”.

Saturday, we all dragged our relatives to classes with us, which included an explanation of the ten dimensions of string theory, the reading of Parents' Weekend poems, and interpretive dance demonstrations of different types of geologic plate movements. That night featured a semi-formal dinner with all of the students and parents. Tables were set up all over the main building in Who's Hall, Hope Library, and the classroom. After dessert and coffee in the climbing hall, there was a slide show in Who’s Hall featuring the people and events of RMS XXI. We all want to thank the apprentices for prepping and serving all the food and the faculty for helping with prep and washing the dishes.

On Sunday and Monday, we were free to stay with our parents for the rest of the weekend. We all traveled to a number of places in Colorado, including Denver, Colorado Springs, and the Great Sand Dunes National Park. A number of students went on a tour of Colorado College, some visited the University of Colorado at Boulder, while others simply hung around Leadville for the weekend. No matter the activity, each of us had a great time over the weekend. We enjoyed seeing family after not seeing them for a few months. It was also a privilege to show them around HMI and Leadville, giving them a glimpse of what our lives are like here. However, even after a great weekend with family, it was great to be back together as RMS XXI when it was over.

We arrived back from parents weekend sometime on Monday. Having been gone for an entire 24 hours, we all greeted each other like we had been gone for a year. Consequently, Monday was hectic, but on Tuesday we settled back into the usual schedule.

When last period Wednesday came around we went to our various activities, deciding among pumpkin carving, knitting, the creation of flaming deserts, and broomball. Pumpkin carving ended with a pumpkin goop food fight and then the devouring of 8 pumpkins’ worth of salted and roasted seeds. Broomball consisted of literally hitting a ball with a broom toward a goal and then lots of loud screams whenever a point was scored. At dinner that night we looked around Who's Hall to see many knitting needles working away to create various master pieces. The presentation of flaming deserts arrived at around 6:25pm when we were all ushered into the kitchen to see deserts burst into flames. On Friday, the activities consisted of recycling, fixing Karl's house (a surprisingly popular one), and nature journals. Students who fixed Karl's house insulated pipes and tore down a wall. We found that there is honestly no better way to de-stress.

The last few weeks have been busy in our classes. In Science we just finished up our animal posters, a project with partners in which we outlined adaptations and characteristics of animals which we were assigned and presented them in a creative manner, including songs, trivia, costumes, and comedy. After the taxonomy unit, we started to learn about stream morphology and geology, as we will encounter both of these natural occurrences on our canyon expedition. Meanwhile, In Math class we learned how to graph mind numbingly cool trigonometric graphs and polar coordinates. We also enjoyed learning to use our calculators to plot complicated equations that would be far to exhausting by hand.

In English class we started to read A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean. We have discussed the difficulty of interpreting language, and now we are beginning our lyrical essays that will weave a story of our family with an aspect of nature and a passage from Maclean's book. After learning about the difficulties of language, we will try our best to convey a meaning to the reader through these essays.

In Spanish class we have mixed fun with learning and played games as well as danced salsa to a few class favorites by Shakira, and Chocolate. After the fun, we have continued to have discussions about immigration and its effects on the Leadville area and the local ski industry. As election day nears, we are gearing up for a discussion about the different candidates and their policies on immigration. This will add to the excitement and anticipation of the big day as it fast approaches.

We conclude with a plea from RMS XXI: Don't forget to vote!

By: T.J. Callahan, Esme Lovell-Smith, and Brendan Buckland