Hello everyone

A MESSAGE FROM IAN

Yeah! We completed the Harbor Cruise! It was great to see all of the faces on board. Many of the people I do not get to see very often from all the different circles of friends and many people that I met for the first time. The Cruise was a great success and everyone I spoke to had a good time. We would welcome feedback from anyone that would like to comment on the event. A big thank you goes out to all the restaurants like Red Drum, Earthfare, Mimi’s Cafe, Saffron, and especially Sunfire Grille who came through and offered to help in the future. Big thanks to Sandra, Topher, Lucy, and Mario who also did some cooking. There was plenty of food left over even after having 175 people on board. Thanks goes to Dan for hooking me up with the Company that provided the 250 bio-degradable plates that were made from sugarcane. You would never know they were any different from regular paper plates.

The weather could not have been nicer. Many people stayed above deck the entire time. Due to Coast Guard Regulations we were not able to get too close to the Boat Parade but the Captain did his best to give everyone the best view possible and the fireworks show was spectacular from the water.

Mirage, the jazz band, played thier hearts out all night keeping the mood nice and smooth. The people gathered around and listened intently and respectfully at the end of the night. I made a quick announcement and update about LEEP to those that were there for the first time. Even though we were not able to give a video presentation we still got our message across.

It was great to see Nancy Cregg and the Coastal Conservation League, Karen Breshears from See Wee Visitor Center, Mike Arendt and Ileana from Surf Rider Foundation, Cornbread and Caviar, The Puzu family, the teachers, the Doyle family

The Cruise ended up being worth it despite all of the trouble. It really caused a lot of stress to get the call on Thanksgiving day saying that we would be tied to the dock for the boat parade. We had to act right away and let the guests know what was going on. Thanks to Mario we were able to reverse the decision and set sail as originaly planned but it caused a whole lot of confusion amongst the guests. It was all an unnecesary complication that had us scrambling in the last week.

The day of the Cruise was great! There was a Chili Cook off going on for the SPCA at the Maritime Center and a lot of street construction that made it difficult to find parking and get to the boat.

Yesterday I did a class for the 5th graders at Lambs Elementary School. I arrived just about 1pm. The students were already lined up in the hall in front of the science room. When they saw me they asked if I was going to teach the class and began to cheer. I guess they enjoyed the last class I did with them about the geology. This class I was going completely by the seat of my pants. I had given William the basket of shells and artifacts for his classs at North Charleston Elementary. I was completely without my own props. We started the class with a review of last week. They seemed to have really grasped the concepts of the rock cycle and weathering as well as the layers of the earth. I then shifted gears and went into Producers, Consumers and Decomposers. The students seemed to enjoy it also. I was reaching for things and mixing them up. We made a trip outside and we went over the concepts. We then returned to the class and did it again. I used the rock cycle song and the producers song that I have written to drive the lesson home. It was not as organized as I would have liked it to be. I could have had more activities and more props to keep the students more involved. However, the students seemed to enjoy the class.

We will be posting more often here so please keep coming back to keep up with what LEEP is doing next.

Ian Sanchez