Sucesses!

So working 60 or so hours a week gets in the way of regular updates, but I am alive and well, just busier than I've been since possibly the semester my calculus professor decided what math class lack is group projects.  But I have a tendency to take on programs instead of getting jobs, and programs have a tendency to be more job, hobby, and social life, so I'm getting better practice at the balance thing.


On the positive side, our Alternative Spring Break project to travel the state teaching kids activity-based lessons about energy and the environment (I cannot tell you how many times I have spoken or written those exact words...), while not without its wrinkles, succeeded in giving several dozen students from chapters across the state (including mine) a chance to talk to thousands of kids in a handful or so of days.  Which is cool, not just in that they got to do it, but they also were the ones who set up a bunch of important parts of the trip, like the actual lessons and food donations and helping with all the logistics of a (relatively) smooth week.


Maybe it's because energy, and even the environment, have never been 'my' issue.  Maybe it's because starting a new program never goes according to plan.  Maybe it's because my students are just really awesome.  For whatever reason, my favorite part is definitely preparing and training my students.  A lot of times, the trainings aren't directly applicable for Energy Service Corps projects, since we don't really have time in one semester to get to be as big of a program as a lot of the trainings assume that we will be(I'm supposed to train my students on leadership development?  they are my only volunteers, they don't have anyone to develop as leaders).  But I still like to do the trainings with a framing in a broader context of how it can apply to other situations or projects.  It is nice to think I might be a catalyst that will both excite some of my students to be involved in addressing some of the problems of the world while also actually giving them some of the skills that they can use to be effective in addressing those problems.  Sometimes I have to remind myself to focus on what my students should be doing for me as I get to focused on just developing their skills.


Anyway, now that Education Week is over, I am less busy and less immediately stressed, so maybe I'll get around to this site a little more often!