The well-deserved break of Christmas came as quickly as it went and here, we are putting 2023 behind us and opening the door to 2024. January had brought us reminders of what winter has to bring with days of extreme cold temperatures which resulted in some days where no buses were running.
Martin Luther King Jr Day was Monday, January 15th. In library, we read the story Good Night Martin, Luther King Jr by Adam Gamble. This story contained information about his childhood, family members, where he grew up, education, and leadership. He wanted equality for all and for everyone to treat each other with kindness. Another book we read was I Am Enough by Grace Byers, not only do we have to be kind to others, but we also have to be kind to ourselves. Accepting other for who they are and even more importantly accepting who you are as an individual. We all are uniquely different and the same. Students from grades K/3/4 decorated the library bulletin board and the grades 1 and 2 had fun making their Dream hearts.
Students in Grades 5 to 8 had the great opportunity to have a local explorer, Mr. Greg Holden, in to share about the incredible expedition that he took at age of 21 with 11 other brave adventurers, the LAS BALSAS-Pacific Challenge. It all started with one-man, Vital Alsar, who had dreamt of sailing across the Pacific from Ecuador to Australia. In the words of Mr. Alsar, “ If you want to do something different or extraordinary, you must do it with all your heart.” He wanted to prove that people could have travelled this route, hundreds or thousands of years ago, across the Pacific by raft.
This voyage was not for the lighthearted and for the men who took on this expedition they had to be one hundred percent committed from the start to finish. This was Mr. Alsar’s third trip. His first one failed, but he succeeded on his second and now he wanted to see if they can make the trek with three rafts, this his third attempt. Challenge added on, to see if they can make it altogether to their destination. So, the other 11 men trusted him to take them on a trip of a lifetime 9000 miles.
Greg explained all the ups and downs they had, and they even lost one of the rafts for a period of time, which was nerve wracking. Just listening to his journey and remembering all the events made you feel that you were right there with him. He spoke of challenges with rust, repairing the wear and tear of the sails and the struggles dealing with the sea worms which got into the ropes and logs, the different species of shark encounters and more. They also had a monkey and a couple of cats that were on this journey if you can believe it! It is truly mindboggling trying to envision this incredible voyage and how it impacted their lives, friends, and families. They ended up travelling 9213 miles which is recorded the longest raft voyage in history. If you are interested in watching this documentary you can YouTube their adventure, Pacific Challenge.
The Grade 7/8 Curling teams began their practices at the Erickson Curling Rink on January 17th. Each week that went by the teams enhanced their curling skills and we wish them all the best in the tournament. You can see the results of this under the February entry once posted.