Friday Journal

May 18, 2007

See all the Photos from Friday!

Trip Leaders

Marlene Schoeneck: Since Thursday, Neal Larson’s advice has churned in my mind: When things are tough it happens for a reason. Let the bad things go. Don’t give up. Keep trying. Too often our modern society tells us that if we don’t get something right away to give up. This trip proved that advice to be so wrong!

I watched all of you succeed this week. Some of you struggle in the classroom. Some of you have tough times outside of school. None of that mattered this week. You all showed outstanding critical thinking skills and posed thoughtful questions in order to put together various geological stories at each site. You worked together to make lunches, pitch tents, and haul food and gear. You were the same kids you always have been, yet you proved you are smart, have guts, and can succeed.

Let this week be a testimony to what you are capable of in the future. Dream big and make sure you do what you need to do to make those dreams come true. Don’t settle for less. Don’t give up. Don’t let others pull you down because they think your dreams are unreachable, or because they have failed to follow their own dreams. Make it happen. Reach high and fly far. This week is only the beginning!

Lee Schmitt: This week Parkers Prairie 8th graders truly had the experience of a lifetime – the opportunity to observe geology, ask questions and construct their own understanding of how our earth is shaped and changed over time. This was a wonder week of learning for all of us!

University Students

Mike Entzminger (Minnesota State University, Moorhead):I had a blast! The kids were awesome and they enjoyed the trip. This is such a great experience for all involved. Thank you to all who helped make it possible.

Matt Alexander (Minnesota State University, Moorhead): This trip was a great experience. I saw a change in the kids from not being sure of what to do, to asking questions about how everything was formed! It was a unique trip that many will take with them for a very long time, including me.

Cassie Kramer (Minnesota State University, Moorhead): This trip is a great learning experience for the students. I am glad that I was able to be a part of it. Thank you to everyone who made this field investigation possible. These students are great and I am glad to have met them. Good luck in your lat few days of school, eighth graders. It was a blast!

Angie Read (Concordia College, Moorhead): This experience was awesome for all the kids. They were great to work with. It was a learning experience for all!

Nicole True (Minnesota State University, Moorhead): This was the best experience ever. These kids were great and interested in everything.

Melissa Radniecki (Minnesota State University, Moorhead): Parkers Prairie has some awesome 8th graders! The kids were wonderful and learned a lot. These students will remember this trip for the rest of their lives and I am glad to have had the luxury of getting to know everyone.

Natalie Lehner (Minnesota State University, Moorhead): Again, for the second year, I find this trip to be a great fulfilling learning experience. I was glad to be a part of it again, and the students were awesome. It was nice to see them learn and have fun at the same time. Thank you.

Justin McFadden (Minnesota State University, Moorhead ): This experience is one that will be unrivalled in each of these students' lives. Inquiry, social relationships, and earth science are just some of the experiences all involved were able to build upon. Truly a phenomenon in science education. One can't understand the impact of the trip until experienced.

Parents

Steve LaVan: For the second year, all I can say is INCREDIBLE! I hope the parents of future eighth graders have the opportunity to witness and participate in this geological trip. I would like to see all staff at PPHS excel like Mrs. Schoeneck. Job well done!

P.S. Thank you to all of the college students for their part!

Mark Horlocker: This was my second trip with the Parkers Prairie 8th graders, and this trip matched the impact of the first in every way. Most of the kids don’t yet realize the importance of what just happened to them. Some day they will, and they will never forget it. We should all be grateful for teachers like Marlene Schoeneck.

Dee Sjobeck: This trip, like last year, is so educational. All the people who make it happen are amazing, especially Mrs. Schoeneck. Thank you!

Christina Martinson: The trip was quite an experience for everyone. I found the trip to be very interesting working with the kids everyday but very rewarding as well. The kids were a great bunch to be with and I enjoyed working with them on their adventure in South Dakota .

April Steidl: This has been quite the trip. Everyone calls this the SD Trip but it really is so much more, from starting off the trip with highlights in Minnesota, to moving into the geological surroundings of South Dakota, and then onto Devil's Tower in Wyoming. The kids were awesome and challenging. All I have to say is Mrs. Schoeneck deserves many thanks for all she does for she does for and inspires into these kids.

8th Grade Students

Angie Morton: This trip was the best experience I have ever had for school and with this class. The bus drivers are cool and the college students and the chaperones were really nice and a big help. I am happy I got to see these things, rather than just hearing about them. Thank you Mrs. Schoeneck!

Laura Orestano: Whoo-Hoo!

Jordan Lee: This was really fun and I’m glad I had this experience. I made a lot of new friends I never thought I would and I learned a ton of new things I would have never known if it weren’t for this trip.

Breann Neiman: I had a good time and it went way too fast!

Josh Martinson: It was cool!

Janessa Sjobeck: This was a great experience and I will never look at a rock the same way again.

Ryan Peppersack: I had a really good time and learned a lot.

Shauna Fyhrie: I had a good time! So sick of buses though! And sandwiches! But, I learned a lot more about rocks and the sites we visited.

Mark Koep: It was fun! I know my brother won’t be able to wait to go in 2 years.

Chad Knapp: This trip was sweet and the places we stopped were awesome!

Austin Samuelson: It was fun…sometimes.

Jeremy Schwartz: It was great fun!

Brett LaVan: It was the best! Better than sitting in a classroom. Thanks for the support.

Travis Tomford: It was a great trip!

Kevin Hahn: I was happy!

Dylan Lewis: It was a fun trip. I had a great time with my friends and all the chaperones.

Trey Thompson: It was cool. I learned a lot about rocks and how they can form.

Jimmy Cornish: It was an awesome trip! I want to do it again!

Sam Bettermann: It was good. I liked the dinosaur museum.

Cambell Rasmusson: This trip was the highlight of my school year, and I wish I could do it again next year.

Shawna Weaver: I think that this trip has taught us a lot and made us think different about science. I loved this trip a lot.

Ben Moske: It was very, very, very, very, very, very, very cool and very, very, very, very, very, very fun!

Aaron Peterson: This trip was awesome, because most 8th graders are sitting in classrooms learning, and we got a once in a lifetime trip. Most people don’t get the opportunity like us.

Samantha Riedel: I thought this was a great trip. It was a great learning experience and we got to see beautiful landscapes along with it. Most kids don’t get this kind of opportunity, so I am very grateful. Thanks Mrs. Schoeneck and thanks to all who helped along the way to make this possible.

Devin Higley: This trip was sweet! This trip was any word that describes cool! This trip could be educational and boring, but you get to swim in the hot springs and ride wild bikes. Great learning experience!

Kyla Woida: This was the best experience in my whole life. You get to see a lot and have fun with your friends, and learn at the same time. I had a good time! Thanks to all of you people who helped us to go on this field trip.

Krista Mitchell: Oh my gosh! I had the best time ever. I am going to remember this trip the rest of my life. Thank you so much! It was an awesome experience and I hope you other 8th graders had fun because I did.

Matt Froemming: Dude man – I think that the time I spent learning, with my friends and teachers, and going to see so many sites has changed my life entirely. Thank you so much Mrs. Schoeneck and everyone else.

Bailey Morris: I have experienced nothing like this before. It was awesome learning about the places we went and actually talking to people you have never talked to. I just hope that in the years that follow people will love this experience. I want to give everybody that made this trip possible thanks, but most of all a very special thanks to the best teacher ever, Mrs. Schoeneck. Thanks Mrs. Schoeneck for the time of my life. I will never forget this.

Amanda Olson: I think that the trip was really fun and I had the best time ever, because I could be away from school and home. I really, really think that I learned a lot on this trip than what I normally learn about.

CJ Jahnke: I think that I have experienced more than I have ever known in my life about the places that we went to like: Mount Rushmore, Badlands, and the Black Hills. I would also like to thank all the college students for coming and helping, and Mrs. Schoeneck for allowing us to go and to be able to get permission for all of us 8th graders to go.

Matt Moats: I thought the trip was awesome. We got to go to places most people will never get to go. I had a fun time with my friends, as well. It gave me more experience than sitting in a classroom all day. It had both ups and downs, but mostly it had ups. The hot spring was much cooler than I expected. I want to thank everyone for their support in this trip, but especially Mrs. Schoeneck. Thanks!

P.S. Don’t run on the dirt trails!

Josh Burnett: It was an awesome trip. The best thing was the cave and dinosaur skin.

Amber Suchy: I had a lot of fun in the last 5 days. I am glad we got to go.

Amanda Sorenson: We learned a lot of interesting things about different kinds of landscapes, and it was a fun learning experience. I would like to thank Mrs. Schoeneck for making it possible to go on this trip.

Matt Gappa: The most interesting things that I saw were the Badlands and Devils
Tower . I thought it was cool, because it is amazing how that can form. Thank you for bringing us on this trip. I had a lot of fun.

Brady LaVan: I thought this was an interesting trip for us 8th graders to get out and see things that we talked about in class. If I had a choice I would go again.

Marie Danielson: Umm – Wow! Unexplainable time! It was a lifetime experience. Thank you so much!!!!

Kevin Bunde: This trip rules! Everyone should be able to do this in 8th grade. I hope to see the rest of my family go – that would be sweet!

Anonymous: I agree with everybody about this trip. It was excellent, rad, awesome, perfect! Thanks Mrs. Schoeneck! You’re the best!

Josh Horlocker: This is a once in a lifetime experience and the best week of science ever!