2014-2015 Intern Projects

The school year has come to a close, and that means the interns are moving on. However, they have been working hard all year to leave behind a project that will benefit the school for years to come.

Let’s take a look at what this year’s interns accomplished…

Sarah channeled her love of laughter, music, and theatre to revamp Sierra Outdoor School’s campfire program. She searched far and wide for the most fun, educational, and interactive songs and skits related to SOS’s classes and organized them in a new staff campfire book. With activities specifically connected to each of SOS’s classes, campfires now provide students with the opportunity to cement and recall knowledge during an exciting evening of music and amusement!  Check out the student version of the campfire book on our website http://sos.cusd.com to find your favorite songs from SOS!

Tommy helped to beautify SOS’s campus and educate our visitors by painting a large map mural! The mural depicts the web of trails around main campus, accompanied by detailed illustrations highlighting unique organisms and areas. The mural’s final location is to be determined due to construction, but will be prominently displayed where visitors can enjoy it during free time.

Alli divided her time between three intern projects. First, she spruced up the “bird blind,” a teaching spot where students can sit, relatively hidden, and watch birds in the forest. At the beginning of the year, it was in need of some TLC...now, the bird blind is an excellent place to hear songbirds and observe the forest! Second, Alli created a fun map for the new Gold Rush journal; kids love to locate themselves on the map and see where they are going next! Third, Alli created a PowerPoint version of our evening Campardy and Gold Rush Game Show classes. This new resource encourages higher student involvement and an atmosphere of fair and friendly competition. 

Britta loves trees, and decided that the students’ blacktop free time could incorporate some fun tree lessons as well. She designed, sketched, and painted signs that have local tree silhouettes drawn to scale, facts about them, and different ways to identify them.  These signs are located near the blacktop, giving students the option to learn about the trees of SOS during their free time, while also assisting in teaching about local trees during class. Take a look at these signs and quiz yourself: can you identify any of the trees by outline, cones, leaves, or flowers?

Jocelyn, along with a Naturlist, undertook the challenge of updating the SOS website. After many hours of designing, editing, writing, and enhancing website content with photos, the new website is up and running. The new website is designed for easy navigation, has more details about our program, and illustrates all our program has to offer with many new photos. Jocelyn also helped build the new Facebook page and has encouraged more staff involvement in posting on our online media so our students, teachers, and parents/guardians can get a better understanding of our day to day life here at SOS. Check out the website, Facebook, or this blog to learn something new about our program!

Deanna and Alicia love water and sustainability. When they arrived at SOS and realized that many students were purchasing single-use plastic water bottles to bring to classes, they decided those students should have another option. With Deanna’s design, they ordered two hundreds bottles as a test run… and they sold like crazy! The bottles are also BPA free, recyclable, made in the USA, and made from recycled materials. Drinking from a reusable water bottle is an easy way to reduce your waste! What else do you do at home or school to conserve your resources and practice sustainability?

      

 







Thanks for reading! Tune in next June to see what awesome projects the new interns create!