Congratulations to Dakota Jones for her outstanding participation & success as a member of the Glenwood GEAR UP program.  Dakota finished her final year of middle school with numerous awards and recognition.  She has been active in GEAR UP sponsored activities such as the Cooking Club, Landscape/Service Learning Project & Forestry Club.  She was selected to represent Glenwood at the GEAR UP Day at the Capitol, meeting other students, legislative representatives & Mr. Randy Dorn-Superintendent of Public Instruction.  At 8^th grade promotion, Dakota received the GEAR UP “Miss Be There” award for earning the most service learning hours & being consistently dedicated and reliable.  She has also lent her talents during the Summer Photography Camp, learning digital & traditional photography. 

Jensi Smith, my mom and I drove down to Olympia on Tuesday night.  We stayed the night at a Best Western.  We woke up very early on Wednesday and drove to the state Capitol.  There were over 250 students, directors, and parents that met on the Rotunda.  We were there for the 10th anniversary of GEAR UP.  We listened to students and their parents talk about how the GEAR UP program has helped them and made their children be more prepared for the future.  Then we got to listen to parents talk about how proud they are of their kis and how GEAR UP has helped their family.  Most of the students there talked about how GEAR UP has helped them come out of their shell and become more responsible.  Also, how it is helping them get their grades up with the help of the GEAR UP tutors.  Then one of Governor Gregoire's aides proclaimed February 18, 2009 "GEAR UP Day".  We then went on to have a meeting with Senator Honeyford's wife Jerri (she was very nice to all of us, she asked us many questions about school, GEAR UP, and our future plans.)

Students from Glenwood School had the pleasure of fun hands-on science experiments when Dale Ingram from LIGO visited their school.  LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory) is operated by the California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the National Science Foundation.  LIGO has twin facilities located in Richland, WA and Livingston, Louisiana.  LIGO’s Public Outreach Program, in partnership with GEAR UP, sponsored the visit which took place on September 9, 2008.

Mr. Ingram set up multiple stations in the school’s Multi-purpose Room for students to enjoy.  The tornado bottles, pencil wave and Jello motion & monitor were particular favorites.  All of the experiments helped students to better understand the concepts associated with how the 2.5 mile L shaped arms of the LIGO Observatory hope to measure the gravitational waves from space. 

Students from Glenwood School visited the site of the Cold Springs Fire on Sunday, October 5th.  GEAR UP, in partnership with the Glenwood School, organized the trip to explore the remains left by the fire that took out almost 8,000 acres of forest.

Cohort parent and local forester, Bryan Keithly, shared his expertise with students and parents as to the causes and conditions that contributed to the intense fire that started on July 12, 2008.  Disease, fuels, weather conditions, types of vegetation and terrain all played a factor in how the fire spread and how firefighters worked to contain the blaze.  Using markers and a large map, Bryan was able to explain where the fire was each day, what the conditions were on the ground, how the fire managers planned their containment and the types of equipment that was needed.

The group had the opportunity to travel through the blacken forest.  In many places, everything was completely devastated, with all trees totally burnt, rocks and ground charcoal black.  In some areas, the forest undergrowth was already beginning to return.  Other areas had damaged but salvageable trees.  Spot fires had broken past fire lines, causing some places to have burned out trees standing right next to live trees.