ELABORATE KICK OFF BY THE BFA FAIRFAX MIDDLE SCHOOL

FACILITATORS:

Al Daniels, Pat Nilsson, Jim Lonergan, Jen Skerrett, Marc Choiniere, Marlene Karr, Marc Brunelle (Sound FX) and the entire Middle School Faculty and Para educators

(Photos by Henry Raymond)

Helping Hands - A workshop with Mrs. Bushey and Mrs. Bachand. Students will gather together to explore the various organizations that have helped make Fairfax a caring community. Some of these organizations are: Scouts, 4-H, Country Doctor, Red Cross, Masons, Grange, etc.

Hiram Bellows (Scott Lang) could take it no longer as he got up and latched on to the Hot Water Bottle from Mrs. Bushey.

Warmth of Words or "History Through Our Ears" with Mrs. O'Brien. This workshop will consist of students listening to their elderly friends or relatives tell stories of their youth and events in their town or school life. They will work in teams to interview BFA Fairfax alumni. They will find out what it was like growing up in Fairfax and attending BFA. They will be equipped with a tape recorder, camera and writing pad and will document these stories and memories. They will document their interviews through photo exhibits, timelines and creative writing pieces.

100 years of Gadgets and Gizmos is a workshop to be held with Mr. Lonergan and Mrs. Cantrell. At the beginning of 1903 there were no airplanes, no toasters, no microwaves, no radios, no TV sets and no peanut butter.

How did they survive? Students will join Mrs. Cantrell and Mr. Lonergan to find out the history behind these and hundreds of other devices that we take for granted today, but that were science fiction to those first students of BFA.

Students will choose an invention of the last 100 years, research how it was invented and how it worked, and prepare a display showing what they have learned about the project, its inventor, and its later history.

Shown above are on the left, Jedd Kettler, a photographer from the County Courier and on the right Greg Bessette, a photographer from The St. Albans Messenger. The County Courier expects to have something in their weekly edition this Thursday and I suspect The Messenger might have something in shortly also. I personally took 45 photographs, however, not of the quality these guys take. I asked both of them if they would be willing to share some of their photographs for my web site and they both agreed to do so. Both very nice young men and even though they are professionals, agreeing to share their photographs with us is a very generous gesture.

Everybody Talks about the Weather - A workshop with Ms. Wyss & Mr. Buckingham. "Tornadoes, floods, hurricanes and winter storms have all played a part of history in the past 100 years in our town of Fairfax. Students will learn about the scientific side of weather (meteorology) and the historical significance of storms that have affected Fairfax. Students will learn a lot and even take a trip to the National Weather Service office in Burlington to see how they forecast the weather.

The electric car which transported everyone in the gym through the time machine was driven by Reggie Brault, shown above. Ms. Gude awaits her turn to be driven to the Time Machine.

The Electric Car

Ms. Gude, as part of the Birthday Celebration will be hosting introductory geocaching workshops for a group of students. They will work on navigation, map and compass skills, location scouting, container placement and camouflage, and puzzle clues. We intend to include some letterbox type clues to make the event accessible to those who are interested, but may not have a GPSR.

Horatio's Horrific Ride with Mr. Louthan and Ms Beach - The clever culture of the car! And one fantastic feat that occurred in 1903; the year BFA was founded!

Fairfax - Bridging the years - A workshop with Mr. Daniels - What was Fairfax like 100 years ago? What was new and exciting? What was here? In this workshop students will find out.

Peggy Stewart, School Board Chairperson escorts Hiram Bellows (Scott Lang) to the Electric Car

Hiram Bellows just can't believe this

Mr. Daniels explains the procedure for signing up for the workshops, explaining that they must make several choices and hopefully getting their favorite one, prior to their dismissal from the assembly.

Above, the participants in the program gather around the Time Machine for a final photo before their workshops begin.

This is an extremely ambitious endeavor and I am certain that the students who participate in these workshops will certainly learn a lot. The facilitators of this project in my mind have done an outstanding job and I am very anxious to see the results on November 21st

Henry A. Raymond
vtgrandpa@yahoo.com
November 11, 2003