Session #1 – June 26, 2010

An Endless Boundless Welcome

Here’s the basic idea of our Endless Boundless introduction:

Have you ever seen a life-size diorama? A whole scene depicting a momentary glimpse of life in the wile– Well, picture this, a Rainforest ecosystem, full of lush vegetation, leaves dripping with rain droplets, vines hanging everywhere, monkeys on them, and in the center of it all, a gorgeous colorful bird with feathers up and out trying to scare off a weird little rodent– maybe a shrew? Everything in that scene is connected in some way. We will be working toward the creation of something like this.

What we have in store for you is an incredible experience– this structure is unlike your typical school setting, there are no tests, no regimented times set aside for math, science, english, we blend everything together into one cacophonous storm and believe wholeheartedly you are prepared for the adventure ahead. There are no limits here, you must trust yourself and everyone at work, push yourself in whatever direction you desire, and we will encourage your pursuits. Everything here is alive, possible, and full of wonder.

That message was conveyed to 12 students, ages 9-15, and afterward we got to know each other through surveys about interest in the arts and sciences-- I'll spare everyone, except Audrey, the embarrassment of having awkward pictures taken with name tags.

Highlights:
1. Students decided they want to build a Rainforest-Jungle-like Ecosystem!

2. We played a great brainstorming game of "Exquisite Corpse" to generate never-before-seen creatures just like these.

3. We sketched out and shared our ideas of what we hoped to create:

Olivia's producer is the Porous Jenko. Matt's primary consumer is the Mosfadicus Nightmare. It is eaten by Holly's secondary consumer, the Marribias.

"It's kind of like a frog, but its tongue is used to grab ahold of branches and pull itself out of the water. And it has a poisonous fro."

Creature ready for construction!

A specific habitat within the Jungle.

4. We made up and played a game called “Predator/Prey.” It took place outside and was like capture the flag, but students had to protect and hunt for their food, or else they died.

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