Snowball 2

Our day started of at 7:00 am.  When breakfast was finished, our group headed to the opening, a meeting where we got to meet everyone who made this wonderful camp possible. We saw the animals of the state of sunny Arizona, who were poisonous, or mistaken as being poisonous. Remember: the coral snake is incredibly poisonous, but it's cousin, the king snake, who looks very similar, is not poisonous. Don't approach any animal without knowing for sure that is a non-venomous species.   

Testing Devices for Energy Usage in the Hotel Kitchen

Kathryn and I got in a group to discuss recognizing the impact of time delays when exploring cause and effect relationships. We met two people from Milwaukee and one from here in Arizona. We came to the conclusion that you need to think about your actions before actually going ahead and doing it- making a plan. 

Now, we are participating in a World Cafe. Focus. Contribute. Speak. Listen. Link. Connect. Listen together. You talk about things that you care about and spread it throughout your group.

After the group meeting, we broke up into our classes. I was with Kathryn, Jayaram, Jon, Clare Nance, and some new people that I met at Camp. The class was called Greening your school, home, and community. We did a few activities to get to know everyone, then took a "backstage" tour of the hotel and tested the wattage that certain appliances used with a KILL-A-WATT tester. I can already tell that it will be a great class to be  a part of. 

Finally, at the end of the day, we loaded onto the bus at Starr Circle and went down to Tucson Rocks and Ropes for a special rock climbing event just for students. It was amazing!!!!!!! Stef, one of the instructors showed us all the "ropes" of rock climbing and everything needed to know.


Post by Green Team Student Leader, Destiny

Camp Snowball Day 2

Today began with another general session where all of the members of Camp Snowball joined together in the Conference room here at the JW Marriott Star Pass Resort. Something new I tried was the World Cafe. During the World Cafe, we were required to sit with new people and discuss our answers to a couple of given questions such as, "What did you see during the project marketplace?" and "What are somethings you now think are possible for the future?" 

      

Some of the key World Cafe etiquette Included:

·        Focus on what matters

·        Contribute your thinking

·        Speak your mind and heart

·        Listen to understand

·        Link and Connect

·        Listen together for insights and deeper questions 

(small groups of people coming together and then taking action) 

Our Team is Learning Lots!

Something my group agreed on that we noticed was that a lot of the different groups, had some of the same challenges, but there were a few that have overcome the challenges that we are having, and we can learn from them. 

     

After lunch, the team split up into our core modules. Mrs. Nance, Destiny, Jon, Jayaram, and I are all in the same module called "Greening your School, Home, and Community." And during today's session, we looked into monitoring the amount of watts used by average appliances around the hotel, and some things we could monitor back at our own schools. And then taking these results and finding out which electronics used electricity even when they weren't turned on so that we could make sure to unplug them, there for reducing our energy usage. Overall, I am looking forward to tomorrows session of core modules to hopefully learn how to overcome some of the challenges that we have encountered along the way towards sustainability.

Post by Green Team Student Leader, Kathryn

I want to suck your energy!

Snowball Day 2:  A vampire appliance would do just this, let's break it  down now, a vampire appliance is an appliance that when off, still uses energy! This not only hurts the environment but also empties your wallet at the end of every month. During core module today, "greening your school and community" we learned how you can kill these "vampires" with simple steps; first of all you want to do is measure ALL your appliances with a measuring tool called a Kill-a-watt meter, this tool is self explanatory, it measures the amount of watts that the appliance uses. Once you find out how many watts your appliance is using while on you can shut it off and also determine if that appliance is a vampire or not. If the Kill-A-Watt meter reads energy flowing then it is a vampire but if the meter reads zero then you are perfectly fine. A way you can get rid of these nasty energy suckers isn't to stab them with a stake, it's to simply unplug them, this makes it so no energy can flow into these inefficient products. Power strips can be your best friend because it is easy to shut off multiple outlets at once rather than unplugging each individual appliance.   

Post by Green Team Student Leader, Jon

We're at Camp!

Tahoma school district is at Camp Snowball in Tucson, AZ. Their are four of us students, and seven adults ready to learn more about sustainable ways to live life. By the way that everyone is acting I feel like this will be a very successful conference, but more importantly everyone is eager to see what this trip has in store for the future of the district and our growing community!  My picture today is of the hotel that we are staying at, the Marriott Starr Pass. This place is amazing they have a pesticide FREE garden on the property, and the organic veggies and cactus that they grow in the garden are served to ALL their guests in their amazing restaurant. I'm excited to see what else this trip and this hotel has in store for me over these next few days!

Post by Green Team Student Leader, Jon

Snowball 1

Today began with a perfect mix of nervousness and excitement.  When Camp Snowball began, Peter Senge explained to me why the camp was called Snowball. It wasn't to be ironic, but rather to symbolize the basis of change. The idea was not to hear about sustainable solutions and ideas and just keep these ideas in the back burner, but comprehend them and educate our community. Camp Snowball is about systems thinking and strong integration, but snowballing is about taking this snowball in Arizona and letting it diffuse to every community. We are here to create an avalanche of change! You could just feel the excitement of everyone there even after this long day. Just before dinner we even got to spent sometime just relaxing at the pool.

Post by Green Team Student Leader, Jayaram 

Snowball Day 1

First, I will start off with the key ideas of this wonderful trip, called Camp Snowball. Hopefully, I will be able to build a snowball of ideas and tips to share with Tahoma Junior High school's next year's eager Green Team members. Camp Snowball is all about sustaining our future, since, our generation, IS the future. I am learning the definition of Systems Thinking, and came up with a definition, so far.  Systems thinking Is one big cycle, as if everything were connected, like a giant puzzle that fits together absolutely perfectly.

Since arriving today in lovely Tucson, AZ, I have had a great time. After taking a quick dip in the grand pool, all of us met for our first faculty/student meeting. We participated in a few incredibly fun activities. Two of the speakers of the evening were, Mayor Rothschild, and author, Peter Senge. After the welcoming, we all gathered for a three course salad, entree, and dessert. Since I am a vegetarian, they specially made me quinoa and corn, tightly wrapped in grape leaves. It was such an awesome day!!!!! 

Arizona is pretty hot, but since we got here, Arizona in July just got WAAAAYYY cooler.

Post by Green Team Student Leader, Destiny 

Camp Snowball Day 1

WELCOME CAMP SNOWBALL CAMPERS!

Today our team of student leaders and faculty members involved with the many projects currently going on in Tahoma School district, arrived in Tucson Arizona to attend the five day long camp on Systems Thinking and Sustainability. Upon arrival at the airport, we were greeted with a warm welcome, not only from the sign shown above, but literally, because it was 104 degrees Fahrenheit.  After a quick dip in the pool, the team attended the opening session with special appearances from the mayor of Tucson, Mayor Rothschild, and author Peter Senge. But the session didn't end there, during dinner we were required to engage in an activity that allowed us to meet many more of the people also attending the camp and talk about what work that is happening in their districts and teach them a little about our own. There were a lot of familiar faces from last years Camp session, but also many new faces as well. Overall, the first session was really "cool", and I am looking forward to the first day of our core modules tomorrow. 

Post by Green Team Student Leader, Kathryn