Science Club Yesterday

[Kennah]

I volunteer through the PTA leading an afterschool Science Club at my kid's elementary school. Everything was going smoothly, I had my two outside presenters all lined up, and we'd spoken earlier in the week either over the phone or via Email.

Three hours before, I get a call while driving so it goes to voice mail. I stop, get the message, and it's the Point Defiance Zoo. They have to cancel because their presenter is out sick.

Oh shit!

My worst fear, and my impromptu, not yet fully thought through, or planned, or scripted, or rehearsed presentation on "Swarm Theory" isn't ready to fill the gap.

I call and basically beg the extremely nice lady from the Pierce County Department of Ecology, now my lone presenter, to please take 60 kids rather than 30 kids. She reluctantly agreed.

I head over to the school, but the gym is not available. Great.

The wife, my 5 year old, and I clear out the classroom of all the desks and tables and chairs and what not.

Maybe it was early spring fever, or the small room, or the number of kids, but they were in a very excited state and we had a challenging time keeping them still.

The presentation from Pierce County was on Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling. It was the first time that the presenter got a lot of questions and interest from parent volunteers, not just the kids.

At the end, there was a relay race with a clean bag of trash for both teams. Run down, put it in the trash can or the recycle bin, run back, tag the next kid. Overall they did pretty good. The teams finished dead even--17 point to 17 points.

I owe a deep debt of gratitude to the Pierce County Department of Ecology. I also am more hopeful about the future because of the Millennial Generation and the New Silent Generation, but I fear they are going to look back on my generation, Generation X, and scratch their heads thinking, "What a bunch of dummies."

[Left coast liberal]

1. You're in my neck of the woods! Those kids are terrific!