Crazy Campus 320x240 .jar
Doris Joo
When me and my girlfriend finished gymnasium we had no idea where we were going to live while studying in university. One option would have been campus but my mother had a crazy idea to buy a small flat that was in a terrible condition. As I love to work with my hands I accepted the offer without any questions.
Living in a tiny flat really means that you have to organize storage room. Cabinets, shelves, drawers, pantries - all that while still looking classy. This is a nice challenge for anyone who loves designing his/her own home.
Because of the height of the flat we decided to rise the bed up 2 meters under which would fit a small wardrobe with plenty of storage room. This was also a perfect spot to hide all the electrical and water works. Next to it we built shower room.
For this I built a simple ladder out of 2X4-s. When not in use the ladder fits between left door and the computer table. To make climbing up easier I added 2X2 to the bed and L- brackets on the ladder. This way the ladder hooks to the bed and makes climbing up safer. Top three steps have slots in them so we could crab them more easily.
The doors are from a old house. We removed the thick white paint from them and what came out was pretty nice. We could have installed only single door but since they came in pair we decided to also install both of them. This also makes the room look bigger.
Funny side story - because using two doors would have been quite pointless I decided to shut the left one permanently. And since one could never go through it I made it into a gateway to Narnia (the wonderland in closet). But unfortunately I did not think it trough really well. In the end I had to flip the doors and the little sign ended up upside-down on the bottom of the right door. Now we can tell our friends that when they want to enter narnia they need to go there walking on their hands.
Inside the wardrobe, as you can see, we have a rack for bigger bags, a neat corner for cleaning appliances and a shoe rack. I also built a tall cabinet with eight drawers and two shelves. I still have to build one larger drawer and two triangular drawers. The big white thing there is the water heater under which is water filter and pipes. Behind the hanging clothes is the distribution board.
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Each student and staff member at BRE used the kindness checklist across campus, which led to a noticeable uptick in visible smiles. The Great Kindness Challenge saw many wonderful things happen in the last week of January, from flowers being left for others, to dressing up the teachers' lounge, to treats given with special kindness notes.
Each day the school had a different activity. Those activities included a bulletin board where students could leave kind messages on sticky notes for everyone to walk by and read. Even the little ones got into the spirit as the kindergarten and first grade students joined the rest of the students in leaving kind words in chalk on the sidewalk for others to read.
Teachers created Social-Emotional Learning lessons built around kindness throughout the month and books about kindness were read across grade levels throughout the entire school. The Kindness Champions for Miller Elementary are 5th grade student Silas B. and VE teacher, Ms. Christina Avirett.
On Monday, Palma Sola Elementary participated in "100 Ways to Kick it With Kindness", and wore their favorite crazy socks to school. Students also broke out in a sing-along with a song called "Kindness is a Muscle" and decorated their sidewalks with kindness messages in chalk. Tuesday was Read My (Kindness) Shirt Day and students were asked to wear a shirt with a positive message.
Wednesday was Hats Off to You Day, in which students could wear a hat to school, recognizing the uniqueness and individual personalities of each person. Thursday was Rock and Read the World With Color Day, and students were asked to wear their favorite color as they reflected on the value that they offer to our school community. Friday was "Panther Pause for Kindness" and all students and staff had a celebrated a week filled with kindness in the school courtyard. Additionally, each student received a globe keychain to think about the impact kindness has on our world...one person at a time.
The SAVE Promise Club led the way with kindness at Rogers Garden-Bullock. Students in the club provided all the materials needed for everyone to create customized messages of appreciation for their fellow students and teachers. Each day during lunch, the school counselor (and SAVE sponsor) Ms. Boyd allowed students to decorate four hearts to give to their friends, and apples to give to the teachers on campus. The hearts and apples were given to students and staff who demonstrated kindness or other traits that were appreciated.
Each grade level had their own color-coded jars to put the apples in (Red-K, Yellow-1st grade, Orange-2nd, Green- 3rd, Blue-4th, and Purple-5th). The students in 3rd grade won the challenge for creating the most hearts and apples. They created so many apples that they had to create four "green" jars to hold them all.
Kindness month and the Great Kindness Challenge brought numerous stories of kind acts from Gene Witt Elementary School. Several classrooms took up their own creative kindness activities. Students from Ms. Lamp's 4th grade classroom read the story "Aguinaldo", then decided they all wanted to forego their own Dojo reward points instead, helping a family who could use a little kindness.
Mrs. Becker's 5th grade classroom designed a kindness bulletin board in front of their classroom that displayed the various kind acts made by students. Even the staff got in the game and created a staff kindness Shout-Out Bulletin Board in the front office.
To celebrate the Great Kindness Challenge, the Johnson K-8 School of International Studies combined their efforts with Literacy Week and had a separate challenge on both fronts for each day of the week. Among the highlights, their SAVE Promise Club created "Self-Love and Kindness cards" for all students in grades 6-8. On one half of the card they had to write three things they love about themselves, and on the other half, three things they love about a family member or friend. The one for themselves they were challenged to keep in their ID pouch or somewhere they would see it often. The other was given to their loved one.
One ELA class asked students to write a kindness poem and then strategically placed it around campus for maximum effect. To finish off the week, students were challenged to reach out or give to those in need. Students responded by bringing in more than 400 pairs of socks to donate to the homeless at the local Salvation Army!
The eLEEte club at Electa Lee Middle School took on the Great Kindness Challenge and helped facilitate numerous activities to bring kindness to every corner of their campus. Students broadcast the Great Kindness Challenge on their school marquee and the fence in front of the school to let everyone know that kindness resides inside. Students created a giant gratitude wreath that was constructed using clothespins, markers, and a wire frame. The students wrote what they were grateful for and attached the clothespin to the wreath.
Messages of kindness and appreciation were written for others and placed on a giant poster, as well as walls located in the hallways. Messages were also written in chalk outside of the school, to ensure that no matter where students, staff, parents, or visitors traveled, they were met with rays of sunshine.
The HOPE Ambassadors Club helped spearhead the activities for the Great Kindness Challenge at Lakewood Ranch High School. In addition to undertaking campus beautification efforts last week, club members handed out checklists for each student during all three lunch periods on the first day of the challenge and created a drop box for everyone to submit their completed checklists.
In order to maximize participation in the challenge, the school held drawings and selected winners who received various prizes, including a free meal from favorite partner Chick-fil-A. Last year the school had more than 350 completed checklists and they hoped to double that number this year.
How does a healthy and happy 19 year old boy disappear without a trace? It is frustrating beyond belief. And fresh layers of snow continue to fall across VT, covering up any possible clues.
I have been following the story of missing Middlebury College freshman Nick Garza very closely. I wanted to go to the campus to retrace Nick's steps and to talk to the students about what they were feeling.
Not many students were willing to talk to me on camera (I began to feel like a media leper after so many NOs). Sarah of Midd Blog graciously gave me a campus tour and spoke about the feelings on campus.
This is not my normal sort of video. But it is something I care a lot about. I continue to hope that Nick Garza is out there somewhere alive and that he will be coming home soon.
You can also watch this video on YouTube.