By: Owen R-S Butter on bread. In Iceland it’s supposed to be a 50/50 split. You need to have as much butter as you have bread. Lunching at Friðeimar Tomato Farm showed us that, for geothermal energy specifically, that 50/50 split also exists in the form of stewardship and community. Geothermal agriculture, from geothermal...
Continue readingLast Day: The Panama Canal
By Jayden and Aiden This morning was much more relaxed, with no hikes, no hands-on activities, just a trip to see the famous Panama Canal. We started the day by taking a boat out to the Gatun Lake, which is a (mostly) freshwater reservoir that serves both the canal and the wildlife. The lake...
Continue readingSouth Jersey Service Day Four: BookSmiles and Lower School Buddies
By: Kari, Ali, Levy, Jaretzi “You have a superpower, and if you can figure out at this time in your life that it is important to serve other people other than yourself, there is no other feeling like it in the world. Giving back will make you wealthy.” -Larry Abrams To begin the day,...
Continue readingSouth Jersey Service, Day Three: Palmyra Cove
By Kaden, Declan, Charlie, and Arjun Our visit to the Palmyra Nature Cove was a day dedicated entirely towards stewardship; stewardship is a Quaker value that urges actions of physical service in an attempt to preserve the world around us. We started by cutting down invasive vines that had begun to choke out native...
Continue readingSacred Spaces, Day Four: Respect and Equality Across Religions
Temple Beth Shalom When you first enter Temple Beth Shalom and you walk towards the sanctuary, you see these pieces of art that hold significance to the synagogue. Our group was then shown three different, very special Torahs. We were shown one that is usually used for teaching, one that was very well preserved...
Continue readingPodcasting Day Four: Editing and Peer Review
To start the morning the groups finished the recording they had left to do, which took up a chunk of the morning. Other groups spent time editing and adding finishing touches to their podcasts. The morning continued like that until we broke for lunch in the DHC. Afterwards, we had peer review editing and...
Continue readingCultural Exploration at Lakou A
Our second takeaway was that time flows very differently on the island, and we have started to lean into that. The workers at the Lakou A didn’t give us a distinct schedule at the beginning of the day, and they let us have time to explore and play games. This stressed a lot of...
Continue readingOur Welcome to โรงเรียนวัดจักรสีห์ (The Wat Chak Si School)
“Good Morning!” We were greeted in the lobby at 8:15 A.M. We boarded the bus bright and early to โรงเรียนวัดจักรสีห์ (the Wat Chak Si School) located in Sing Buri. Once we arrived at the school, we were given a warm welcome by all the students ranging from ages five through seventeen. The WCS welcomed...
Continue readingEighth Grade Travels to YMCA Camp Mason
On Tuesday, eighth graders loaded the buses at the oval in anticipation of their last middle school Intensive Learning overnight trip. For many years, eighth graders at MFS have traveled north toward the Delaware Water Gap to attend YMCA Camp Mason just outside of Blairstown, NJ. The wooded foothills provide an excellent new environment...
Continue readingBarbacoa Tacos and Feast Prep
We had a busy day in Low and Slow today, preparing for our feast on Friday, cooking more food, and beginning to clean up for the end of IL. We started by uncovering the pit, which we had covered with plywood and dirt the day before, and took out the lamb, which smelled delicious...
Continue readingDay Four: Foxes Go to Lafayette College
Today, on this very sunny and hot day, the Foxes visited Lafayette College. Lafayette College is a small liberal arts school with about 2700 students (10:1 student to teacher ratio). During our visit, we were accompanied by Lafayette alum and expert: Chris LaTempa. When we first arrived on campus we were surprised to find...
Continue readingFinal day making movies with the squad!
Watching the Robots
Today we travelled to the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Robbinsville, NJ to tour their robotics warehouse and distribution system. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to have any photos or videos inside the building. But while we toured the 1.2 million square foot facility, we saw robots that automatically moved shelving pods in a random...
Continue readingArts and Entertainment: Universal Theme Park at the Franklin Institute
For our Wednesday trip, the Arts and Entertainment group visited the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. We began our time there exploring the limited time Universal Theme Parks exhibition. The exhibit was sectioned off into 3 distinct experiences. First, we walked into a recreation of the carriage used to give guided tours at the real...
Continue readingAquatic Bugs and Boats
Thursday we headed to the Rancocas Cranberry Preserve, and our guides had a surprise for us. But before we arrived at the reservoir to enjoy the surprise, we learned about birding and cranberries. We saw red-winged blackbirds, wood ducks, and a circling turkey vulture who seemed have its eye on our stuck canoers. Bald...
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