Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Day 10 Ms Winegarden



Hello everyone,

We are wrapping up our final day here in Belize and I wanted to say a few thank yous before we go.

First, I want to thank all of the parents.  I want to thank you for helping Ms. Bastedo and I plan and organize this trip, for the hours you put in baking, volunteering, packing, and attending meetings.  And finally I want to thank you for trusting us with your wonderful children and allowing them to come on this amazing trip!

 I want to thank Ernesto, Arora, Julio, Liberato, and all of the wonderful families at Maya Center who welcomed us into their homes.  The students really loved the community and it was great to see all of the relationships that were formed and/or strengthened from last year. 

 I want to thank Mynor, our driver, and the rest of the staff at the Tropical Education Center.  The night tour of the zoo was a highlight as always.

I want to thank Jen and Sean from the Tobacco Caye Marine Center for putting up with us on the island, as we all tend to let loose a bit when we arrive :)  They showed us some amazing creatures in the sea and it was a special treat that they could join us on our trip to Xunatunich and to the zoo!

I want to thank Peter, our WLS instructor from Belize, who has so much knowledge about the living things around us here.  He took students birding, gave us a tour of Xunatinich, and even removed a few unwanted house guests from our rooms.  Peter was a dedicated instrucor who always had our safety in mind.

I want to thank Katherine, our other WLS intstructor for her kindness and her warm spirit.  She really made the students feel welcome and did a great job getting them to journal and perform the WLS activities.

I want to thank Ms. Bastedo, for being an amazing teacher and leader on this trip and during all of the preparation leading up to it.  I really appreciate having someone next to me who I can completely trust to get things done and I have heard from more than one person on this trip that we balance each other out well :)

Finally, I want to appreciate the students, who really did an amazing job this year.  Together we have worked hard, laughed, danced, built relationships, ate termites, and even cried, and I had such a great time doing it all.  I have really loved my time with all of you and will miss you dearly, and the tree was the greatest gift I could have hoped for, thank you from the bottom of my heart. 

We all are excited to get back and see everyone tonight, although it is a little bittersweet to leave such a beautiful place and such a great group!

-Ms Winegarden


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We're proud of the whole student team and thankful for all the work Ms. Winegarden and Ms. Bastedo did for making this trip a reality for our kids!

Bonnie Hoggatt

Siraj said...

Thank you, Ms. Winegarden and Ms. Bastedo for taking care of our kids, and for providing them with an amazing and great experience.

Azra and Siraj

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