October 31, 2009
Last weekend was "Parent's Weekend!" We had been anticipating our parents' visits for so long and they were finally here! The few days before Parent's Weekend, we spent time in many of our classes preparing things to show to our parents. For example, in History, we all put together skits for the different chapters we have studied. In science we designed presentations about our macro-invertebrates lab. In English class each of us wrote a poem to explain to our parents about what we have been up to here in the mountains of Colorado.
After preparing for our parents' arrivals and doing chores twice, we went to Molly and Christopher's house where all of the parents were waiting for their loving children. When we arrived we all started running tow
ard each other, parents and students alike. It looked like a scene from a movie. Families were reunited and then left to have dinner in Leadville. After bombarding all of the restaurants in Leadville, we went back to HMI and on to the bonfire. The bonfire was a really great exper
ience. Some students sang a song, read a poem, or shared a historical rap. We all drank hot cocoa and enjoyed the warm fire.
Saturday morning our parents returned and we went on a pleasant stroll on campus. Next we shared breakfast and our parents helped us with our chores. After that, we were off to classes. In each class we shared with them what we have been working on this semester. The Parent's Weekend poems were very emotional, and the parents loved the history skits. They were also delighted by our smarts in science, Spanish, French, and math. Later that night, we had a fancy dinner with flowers and candles, and then we parted ways, heading wherever our parents wanted t
o take us. Some families went to Colorado Springs to visit Colorado College. Other destinations were Boulder and Vail to go shopping and relax. Monday night everyone returned to campus, and we were united once again. After an enjoyable weekend spent with our parents, it was very nice to spend time with our friends and sleep in our stove-heated cabins.
It has been fairly relaxed here since we got back to campus on Monday. On Tuesday, we carved pumpkins to get into the Halloween spirit. With all the pumpkins that we carved, HMI is sure to look pretty spooky on Halloween! On Friday, some chose to carve more pumpkins to add to our already impressive collection. Others chose to tutor at Lake County Middle School. And math faculty member, Sam Critchlow, fo
rmerly known as DJ Diction in his heyday, broke out the turntables once again to introduce some of us to the theory of "mixing" (or how to DJ for you parents). Overall, it has been a quiet week, as we've all been recuperating from the hectic Parent's Weekend. But things are sure to pick up next week.
In addition to activities, we are getting back into the swing of a normal weekly schedule. On Tuesday we played as many variations of tag as we could think of. Two favorites were mud tag (when you get tagged you are "stuck in the mud" and can't move until somebody crawls through you legs), and blob tag (when you get tagged you link arms with the person who is "it" and the two of you run around and try to add more people to the blob). Wednesday we got to sleep in and recharge for the rest of our week. When we woke up on Thursday to go for our five-mile run, we were greeted at the door with a note from Eric saying that we would stay inside for AMX today because it was -1 degree outside! We ended up doing abdominal workouts in the warmth of Who's Hall. On Friday we went into t
he woods and played boys vs. girls capture the flag in the snow. It was fun to dive into the snow knowing that it is only October.
During the past couple of weeks of classes, our time has been filled with projects, essays, and presentations. In English, we wrote critical reading essays on A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean. We all chose passages from the text and analyzed them to develop an argument about the story. In science class, we continued our study of water in the West with a reading on water rights and with the movie Cadillac Desert. We had an interesting debate concerning the pros and cons of dam building on the Colorado River. This week in AP history we were each assigned a section of a chapter to learn. Then in class, we grouped up and explained our section to the other students. In honors history this week, students did a project about current events.
In advanced Spanish, students met with a local Hispanic women's group. For this week's exchange program, they taught the women how to make favorite family recipes in Spanish. Then, together they all enjoyed the meal the students had prepared. In intermediate Spanish, students learned about comparatives and superlatives this week and wrote "flattery poems" to someone else in the class using their new skills. In advanced French, students wrote a composition about immigration and in the intermediate class, we began to watch the movie Les Choristes. Classes continue to challenge us everyday and we look forward to the coming weeks and to the third expedition.
By: Lizzy Busch, Tyler Gump, Robbie Galloway, & Megan Morrow