Stephanie Dulany

Making connections and diversity are important in life as far as communicating with others around you. The acitivity we did in our last class was called "cross the line." The point of the activity was to watch your peers as they answered serious, private questions by crossing the line in the room. By seeing the individuals answering their questions, and their reactions, I was able to better understand them from a friendship/peer standpoint. This activity showed us how diverse we all were, yet how, on some questions, we had connections with some we may not have thought possible. This activity really opened my mind up to steer clear of judgments and to communicate with one another solely on the task at hand. This outlook will help me to communicate better with our project's affiliates. One of our community partners is Girl Scouts, and this tool of communication is very necessary when trying to work out problems/details, set up meetings to discuss our project, and so forth. You can get involved with ProjectAware by going to www.projectaware.org. We help to try to keep our local water sources clean and share the importance of having clean and safe water. We will try to take a few field trips to local rivers and lakes to clean up, and it is a good way to give back to your community.

Delaney Sweeney

I thought that the speaker was pretty interesting. She did a good job of keeping our attention and making it as comical as she could. I did not like the exercise we did when we had to cross the room; it put people on the spot. Questions were asked that shouldn't have been, especially after one of our summit members dad's just passed away. Our community partner does not have a website, but I will post the national partners website-- PROJECT AWARE.

http://www.projectaware.org/

Project AWARE is a non-profit organization that promotes water quality and education. Others can get involved by joining Project AWARE and doing their part to keep our rivers, lakes, and oceans clean. Anyone can join for free and get information they need to start their own project or to join some one else's.

Abby Williams

On January 27 we had a class session focused on communication.  I think the communication skills we learned were very helpful and will be useful in the future. These will particularly come into play as we communicate with various community partners such as the 4H group and the Girl Scouts.  We also participated in "the line game" and were able to learn things about everyone else in summit park, as well as in our own house.  It was interesting to see who we share opinions or characteristics with that we did not realize before.
We have a lot of exciting projects coming up this semester, so keep checking back with us! We encourage you to get involved with our water clean-ups, learn more about Project Aware, or become a member at: http://www.projectaware.org/

Heather Wharton

The class presentation on making connections and diversity was very interesting.  I found out things about people whom I live with that I did not know before.  I also learned that many of us had the same feelings towards certain subjects.  The activity was not supposed to single anyone out, but many times people were singled out.  It was a little awkward to be part of the smaller group and stare back at the larger group.  The key point I took away is that we all go through the same emotions.  This activity will help me in working with my community partner by being able to express myself in ways that my community partner can understand.  I will also be a better listener in order to understand my community partner.  This semester we are having a lake clean up with the 4H group and a lake clean up with the Girl Scouts!  We want you to keep in mind that our project is to help protect our water sources! If you want to get involved and make a difference go to http://www.projectaware.org/ and sign up today!!