Day 5 - The Last Day

We hope that everyone arrived home safely and during the trip home had a chance to reflect on the events of the week.  Beth and I had a great time with you and it was a delight to get to know you all.  I know that John Slade enjoyed meeting you and we had a great discussion about important things with him on Thursday evening.

We did not really go over this yesterday before departing, but Beth and I would like you to do one final blog post as a sort of wrap-up for the week and a course evaluation.  We know that many of you are returning to very busy lives, but we hope that you have taken away some things of value from the course.  Of course, we will also take private feedback on the course and any thoughts you may have.  You can send them to my kleink@sunyocc.edu address if you wish.

As you continue your professional preparations, we hope that you will ocassionally drop us a note letting us know what you have been up to.  As we watched your presentations yesterday, we were inspired by what we saw and we hope that you can make them become a reality.

Finally, as we departed the ADKs yesterday, a few of us travelled up Bobcat Mt. (McCauley Mt.) and rode the chairlift to where the wind turbine might have been placed.  In honor of John Slade, we created a human wind turbine on the site.  Here's the image:

Best wishes,

Beth and Karl

Day 4 - Touring Great Camp Sagamore and John Slade Visit

We awoke to a brisk morning with bright blue skies and mist blowing across Raquette Lake.  After breakfast, it was off to Great Camp Sagamore and a wonderful tour guide.  Thanks Erin!

I especially enjoyed seeing the indoor/outdoor bowling alley!

Later in the day, our textbook author arrived to have dinner with us and after dinner John Slade entertained us with tales or renewable energy around the world.

We are very fortunate to have had the support of John over the many years of this course.

After his chat, John very graciously signed copies of his book for the class.  He has been a good friend of the class and we greatly appreciate that he took the time to connect with us and shared stories with us showing that there ARE people - especially young people around the world acting to address the energy and climate challenges facing all of humanity.

John specifically asked the students to visit this web site for news about energy success stories from around the world:

http://www.rechargenews.com

Day 3 - The Black Bear Mt. Experience

Another great day in the ADKs.  After a great bacon-fueled breakfast, we hit the trail to ascend Black Bear Mt. (~2500 feet above sea level).

Afterwards, a brief stop in Inlet for ice cream.

After a stir-fry supper, a video chat with one of the absent founders of the course, Dr. Tim Slekar, now of Edgewood College in Wisconsin.

Here's a shot from the top of Black Bear Mt.:

Day 2 - Natural and Cultural History Day

Most of the day was devoted to exploring the two fantastic museums located in the Adirondacks.  First we travelled to Tupper Lake and visited the The Wild Center which has some great exhibits, trails, and demonstrations about the natural history of the region.

Then we travelled to Blue Mt. Lake and learned about the cultural history of the region.

After this, many of the students took advantage of the time just before supper and hopped in the kayaks for a quick paddle around Raquette Lake.

After supper, we had some great discussions about the day, schools, and other things.  Next we met Ed Kanze, an Adirondack Guide, in a pretty good PBS video about life in the Adirondacks.

Finally the day was finished off with s'mores around a campfire.

Nice.

Bonus Entry - Day 1

One of the class assignments is to create a blog.  Please post your class blog address as a "comment" to this entry.

As a bonus, here's a link to some of the photos from today's class:

http://flic.kr/ps/216Mgg

Great Week Shaping Up!

Everyone has arrived safely and we had some great discussions after a delicious spaghetti dinner last night.  There is fog on Raquette Lake this morning, but it is lifting and it's quite cool.  With the cool front that arrived over the weekend, it's a lot better for sleeping.

Here's a photo from just a few minutes ago (7:15 AM):

First Post - Adirondack Classroom Summer 2013

2011 ADK Classroom Participants at the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake, NY

Greetings Course Participants and Ships At Sea!

Here is my first blog entry for this year's experience at Raquette Lake for the SUNY Cortland Adirondack Classroom.

One of the pre-course assignments is to post a follow-up comment to this post to let us know you have begun the pre-course work.  Your comment can just be something to let us know who you are and if you have any expectations for the week.

Important Note for Summer 2013 participants....  This is the first year we are working out of the Antler's Facility, so if you read previous blog posts you will see that all the prior year courses operated out of the Camp Huntington side of the SUNY Cortland facility.

Beth and I are looking forward to meeting you and spending the week together.  If you have any questions, please send an email to kleink@sunyocc.edu and put ADK Classroom Question in the Subject line.

Adirondack Green textbook author, Dr. John Slade