Bonita Cervantes -- lunchtime interview
As they play, Bonita tells me how her morning went. One of her students told her, as they went from the dune to the bus, "We had to get up early to come here."
"Yes," Bonita replied.
"It was all worth it." he said.
"Because of skipping rocks and climbing dunes?" Bonita asked "What was the best part?"
"I don't know yet what was the best part," he replied.
We discuss the measurement tools and testing kit. She thinks it would be easy to duplicate it and use instruments to do local testing. She says the kids really liked using the tools and recording the results. She thinks the best ratio would be 1 kit to five kids. A lot of kids had trouble folding into the measurement tasks with such big groups.
She said that the kids seem to be remembering a lot based on their class discussions prior to the trip.
She says that even though these kids live near Lake Michigan, it is still very awe inspiring to see the lake as you break out of the oaks and onto the dunes. She said that many of the kids had never skipped rocks before. Kids had to show each other what it was about and how to do it. She noticed that a group that did not have any measurement tools returned to the lake for some extra rock throwing.
Katy Beck -- comments during field experiences
Katy walks with me for a while on the trail. She offers her observations about docents. JP (the second Ranger in the afternoon dune tour) is very energetic and entertaining. He puts on a good show. CK (the first Ranger for the field study) was more matter of fact. She thinks the best docents are those who seem to be "of the place" who seem to be a part of where they are.
Both JP and CK are from somewhere else, sharing their knowledge of this place with the kids. I think of how restoration stewards offer the quality of being "of the place" Katy adds that docents "should not be too sticky."