25 July 2013 Showtime...

Journal

A good ol’ show

Our community event at Tuzzy library went well tonight. By 7:00, it seemed as if only 5 or 6 adults would show up for this event geared at children, then Anne rallied together a big group (20+) of kids that were hiding out in the back of the library. It seems that there was another event tonight in Barrow that brought in more than 100 kids -- That’s where they all went! In all, we had around 30+ people show up, which was more than I’d expected and a good-sized group for our purposes. The lessons and games went well and the kids couldn’t get enough of the free flash-drives, cups, flashlights, and slap-bracelets that we were giving out. The point was to let the TeenCERT program be known to the kiddos and gain better knowledge about their perspective on risks in Barrow. I think both goals were successfully met, so it was good night.

Toys — Anne and I knew that the way to get the kiddos to come would be to give out gifts! Here the kids are choosing from the goody box. Gifts provided by North Slope Borough for Risk Management. Photo taken by Mike Berger.

Disaster game — Students stood with signs showing 10 different disasters that Barrow could face -- kids organized them from 1-10, ranking the lowest risk to the highest. Photo taken by Mike Berger.

That’s not all

Tonight’s presentation wasn’t the only excitement for the day, just something that Anne and I had been building up to all week. We started off the morning with a visit to Risk Management, with Fred Brower, and finalized our plans to start a year-long program with cooperative extension that offers TeenCERT for middle-school students. We also met with a former Risk Manager and interviewed him about some of the issues he came across while he was working here.

Some good ol’ fashioned fortune

The thought of leaving my school in Nenana, Alaska, and moving back to Indiana has been bittersweet for me and my wife. I’m awfully happy to move back to Indiana to see family and friends, but I’m sad to leave my kids at Nenana. As fortune would have it, I bumped into 2 of my students tonight in Barrow! Both are visiting for teenage programs going on here (as mentioned above). It was great seeing them. I’ll miss all my Nenana kids ☺

Last day plans…

Tomorrow will be my last full day and I have a lot of important things scheduled:
* Go to Nalukataq
* Swim in the Arctic Ocean – avoid the jellyfish.
* Dinner at Mari’s from the GIS department.
* Tour of the town with Glenn Sheehan.
* Photo-time, getting some final shots of the town.
* Do my laundry and pack up.
* Tour the National Weather Service (NWS) facilities

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