Geographic Alliance of Iowa
Coordinator’s Corner
-- Kay Weller
February 25-28 was the annual Alliance Coordinator’s meeting in Washington, DC. What a week jam packed with activities and information about the new vision for the Alliance Network.
We had a successful day on “the Hill.” George Kuhter and I visited all of our Congressmen and Senators. The treks between buildings were somewhat challenging for this old gal. Our efforts were quite successful with Congressman Braley agreeing to be a co-sponsor of the Teaching Geography is Fundamental. Others have also supported the bill. This bill is to secure funding for geography education. Geography is the only discipline within the NCLB that is not funded. That has put our efforts at a distinct disadvantage. If funding is secured this year many new opportunities will be available to our Alliances.
While in DC we were presented with the task of re-visioning our individual Alliances. Strategic planning to 2025 will be our first task. This will require us to give very serious consideration to what we can do to get Iowa’s students to 80% geographically literate. Not an easy task, my friends.
The final item that must be addressed by the GAI, National Geographic, and UNI is who will become the new GAI Coordinator. It is time for me to step down or have a coordinator appointed to assist me. My hope is that the Coordinator will continue to be a part of our UNI faculty in a Geography Education position. This is where the Alliance should remain if possible and we should continue a good relationship with the College of Education.
May 27-30 the Gilbert M. Grosvenor Center for Geographic Education at Texas State University in San Marcos, TX is hosting a GeoSummit. I will be representing our Alliance. There is a new initiative that will involve our Alliance. This is an opportunity for us to participate in programming that will be viewed very favorably by the NGSEF. It is important that we continue to participate when possible in collaborative efforts so that our funding continues and perhaps even increases through joint grants, etc.
This summer take advantage of an outstanding workshop organized by Don Peterson and Steve Wymore. Encourage your young teachers to be a part of this workshop. The workshop is called Railroads: Under and Over. It fits very well with elementary curriculum. The registration form is elsewhere in the Newsletter.
Steve oaks is working with the Waterloo School District on a workshop implementing geography into the Iowa Core Curriculum. It is nice to see one of our young members become so involved in the GAI.
Congratulations to Alex Oberle for securing a Fulbright-Hays Group Project to Chile. Many new teachers will be participating in this professional development opportunity. It will be followed in early 2010 with a workshop featuring our new curriculum materials developed to work with the Iowa Core Curriculum.
Luke
Juran
It is not often that we have the opportunity to attend a wedding in India, much less be a participant. However, one of our most active members Luke Juran was married January 10, 1009. Below is some wonderful information about Luke’s wedding. Luke was a participant in the 2003 Fulbright-Hays Group Project Abroad to India and again in 2007 in the project to Bangladesh. He is now on a Rotary scholarship studying in Chenai.
Luke write: “Daliya and I are both Catholics, so we had a church wedding—but there were definitely some cultural nuances. We had decorated wedding cars, two beautiful flower girls, and a professional choir. The mass was said in Malayalam (the language of Kerala), with only the vows being stated in English. I wore a suit to both the ceremony and reception, while Daliya wore a white wedding dress to the ceremony and a sari to the reception (a sari is the traditional women’s garment in South Asia; I had to purchase a special sari for Daliya to be given as part of the wedding ceremony). We exchanged wedding rings, but the main symbolic part of ceremony consisted of a series of other gestures. First, I placed a large, gold chain around Daliya’s neck. Then, I tied a thali (a special wedding pendant) around her neck on seven silk strands that had been taken from the sari that I gave her. I had to tie the strands around Daliya’s neck in a particular knot that was taught to me the previous day—so I guess you can say that I literally “tied the knot.” Next, I placed a sari over her head and later transferred it to her arm. After the mass, Daliya changed from her dress into her sari and we arrived at the reception hall together. We lit an oil lamp, cut the wedding cake, and fed each other a piece—but we were also fed by each other’s parents. We had large floral garlands placed around our necks and we drank coconut juice together from the same coconut (Kerala is famous for coconuts).
Mountains, Glaciers and Lakes- A Canadian Experience
From July
5 to the 13th, 2008, four families from Iowa traveled to Calgary, Alberta,
Canada to begin an adventure through the Canadian Rockies. The families
included Julie and Rick Frankfurt and Sarah and Ron Nemmers from Anamosa.
Also, Steve and Margaret Shullaw of Coralville, and Steve and Marilyn Wymore
of Council Bluffs.
In our
first journey, we headed out through the many farms and ranches of Alberta. We
were traveling to Waterton Lakes National Park, where the Rockies rise
dramatically out of the rolling plains. We visited the world’s first
International Peace Park, formed in 1932 by combining Waterton Lakes Park in
Canada with Glacier Park in Montana. Together, these parks celebrate the
friendship between Canada and United States. We learned that the Canada
Rockies were formed and sculpted some 1.5 to 2 billion years ago. The
mountains to the east are a result of an over thrust of the Earth’s crust.
The mountains are primarily sedimentary over this period of 100 million years
the collision of Earth’s plate caused sediments of the sea bottom of the
west coast continental shelf to be fractured and thrusted upward. These sheets
of folded and broken rock from the curve inspiring peaks of today. Other
exciting things we did while staying at Waterton includes a lake cruise on
Waterton Lake that allowed us to visit the park in two countries. Also, we
boarded the stylish “Red Jammers,” restored vintage touring coaches from
the 1930’s. This journey took us on the spectacular “Going-to-the –Sun”
road at Logan Pass, the heart of Glacier National Park. We visited St. Wall,
the cliff that makes up the central Continental Divide.
From
Waterton, we cruised on our motor coach north through beautiful Kananaskis
Valley, one location that was used for down hill skiing in the 1988 Winter
Olympics. We then arrived in Banff, Canada. Here we all rode the Banff Gondola
to the summit of Sulphur Mountain for spectacular views of six mountain
ranges.
Our next
excursion, we went on a wildlife excursion to the shores of Lake Minnewanka
and Two Jack Lake. We returned to Banff where we all took a leisure float trip
on the Bow River. Along the way in Canada we saw elk running around on a
nearby golf course. They have the right of way in Canada. We saw Hoodoos,
strange sculpture like formations found along the river cliffs. These Hoodoos
are formed by wind and water erosion over several thousands of years, to look
like pillars on a hillside.
We
departed Banff to head for Jasper and Jasper National Park. Along the way we
visited Morraine Lake in the valley of Ten Peaks. Here, we also visited Lake
Louise and the nearby beautiful Lake Louise Chateau Hotel. This lake was one
of many we saw filled with turquoise-colored water from the Victoria Glacier.
From here we drove along the world famous Ice fields Parkway to Jasper
Waterfall, glacier lakes, and snow-capped mountains. Along the way we saw
mountain goats licking the highway for its salt to supplement their diets. We
saw bears, elk and sheep. We also drove through several inches of wet snow on
July 10th.
Our next
stop was the charming small town of Jasper with small shops, restaurants and
galleries, as it was with Waterton and Banff. We visited glacier-fed Maligne
Lake, a 14-mile long lake ringed by majestic looking snow-capped peaks.
As we
departed Jasper, we were heading for Clagary to end our tour. Little did we
know that two more big surprises were ahead of us. We were heading for the
Columbia Icefields Athabasca Glacier on a all- terrain Ice Explorer. The melt
water from this ice field feeds streams that flow into three oceans: the
Arctic, the Atlantic and Pacific. We then proceeded to walk on the glacier.
How exciting it felt to be walking on one of the last places on Earth where
cold, wind, weather and water still interact exactly the same way they did
during the last Ice Age. Thinking that this could not be topped, we visited
the very turquoise-colored Peyote Lake. Everyone was in awe of this beauty of
nature. From there we continued on to Calgary for our farewell dinner and the
return home to reality.
The total
experience of the Canadian Rockies trip will be unforgettable for us all. On a
trip like this, meeting new friends and learning about their backgrounds
always makes a trip more interesting. All eight visitors from Iowa would agree
that our experiences were beyond all expectations. We all would recommend a
Canadian Rockies trip to anyone who may be looking for a wonderful vacation.
Left-right:
Steve and Margaret Shullaw, Sarah and Ron Nemmers,
Steve and Marilyn Wymore, and Julie and Rick Frankfurt.
