Our last day in Holguin was full of activity as well as emotion. After breakfast, we headed east for a short drive to Ranchon Alcala, deep in the countryside. There we took a tour of a typical farmhouse, learned how coffee is freshly ground in a giant mortar and pestle, sampled fresh fruits and...
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Saying Adios!
We reluctantly said goodbye to our host families and took some final photos to celebrate the completion of our project. It was really hard to leave new friends, but we accomplished a lot and hopefully made lasting relationships....
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Our Last Day in Florence
We started off our day by visiting the San Miniato al Monte church outside of the main city of Florence. Considered one of the Florence’s most beautiful churches, it offered more insight into Renaissance architecture. We saw pillars that were made of faux marble and paint that was made to look like marble to...
Continue readingBlacksmithing – Final Day (3/27)
We spent our last day relaxing over breakfast before making a couple of anvil stands out of some extra wood to give back to the Harriton House. A few students learned a little welding courtesy of Mr. O to put finishing touches on some pieces they had made earlier in the week. After working...
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Exploring Art: Wrap Up
Over the course of this week, we learned how to look at things from a different perspective. Whether we were in the woods, city, or school, we were exploring the environment around us with a creative eye. We took pictures of the city, created pieces of art out of trash, tape, and spray paint...
Continue readingIslam & Korea: Fastest Growing Religion in the World & Really Good Food
We were able to visit a mosque in Cherry Hill. It was called the Gracious Center for Learning and Enrichment Activities (GCLEA), and the group shared the building with two other companies. We were confused on where the main entrance was because there were two doors on opposite sides, labelled “sisters” and “brothers.” Men and...
Continue readingIndia: Biggest Temple in North America
We went to a temple in Robbinsville, New Jersey, a half hour’s drive away. It was absolutely breathtaking. The temple alone, housed inside a building to protect it from temperature changes, was made from about 11.7 million pounds of Italian marble carved in India. It’s something that you need to see to believe. It...
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SJ Service Reflections
At the end of a busy, successful week, here are the SJ Service group’s experiences summed up in a single word: This week in South Jersey Service we traveled to different organizations and helped in whatever way we could. On Friday we had fun helping out the workers at the Perkins Center for the...
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Architectural Visions
To wrap up our week, the Architecture in Philadelphia group visited the TAO architecture firm in Moorestown. We learned about different fields related to architecture and what kind of educational experiences an architect might need. We saw what the design process was like, from scribble sketch, to computer aided rendering, to 3-D model, to...
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Habitat Wrap Up
The Habitat group had a fine week of Intensive Learning. We spent three days on site in Riverside flooring, cementing, and pulling staples and nails from stairs. On Monday, we cleaned up Palmyra Cove. On Tuesday, we worked at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore moving doors and decorating....
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The Middle East: The Modern Events and the Ancient Artifacts!
On Tuesday, the Asian Culture Club made our return to Philadelphia, and our location was UPenn at University City. We first visited the Middle East center of UPenn, and three graduate students taught us a myriad of information about Iran, Turkey, and other Middle Eastern countries. We learned about the history of rulers, the Iranian Revolution, the...
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Reflections on the Myrtle Beach Trip
Last night the baseball team returned from a successful trip to Myrtle Beach. We learned a lot about where we are as a team, where we would like to be by the end of the season, and how we can go about accomplishing our goals. Our trip was book-ended by the two long bus...
Continue readingPiece Makers
After a busy day yesterday at the long-arm quilting machines at Olde City Quilts in Burlington, the quilters spent this morning hand-sewing the bindings on their creations. Fortunately, kindergartners came by to try out the quilts, to make sure they really work. I’ve rarely seen so many smiles in one place. Enjoy the photos!...
Continue readingPennVet Center
March 26th we went to PennVet and learned a great deal about what goes into training a service dog. When we arrived the trainer instructed us to ignore the dogs, for they were on the job and it was important for them to distinguish the difference between work and play. We were then given...
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Why Dogs?
Dogs are unique among animal groups for their interest in humans. Social psychology is the study of the behaviors of individuals within groups. Once rabies was eradicated in dogs through vaccines and indirectly through dog licenses, humans began to focus on new kinds of domestication. Over the past several decades, humans have focused on training dogs...
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