The 2022 Flower Season may be nearing its end, but it's just the beginning of a new adventure!
They say hard times are sometimes blessings in disguise. I’m sure like most of you, these last few years have been challenging and anything but normal!
I’m going to name these last few years my “Blender Years”. I felt like the usually stable components of my life: work, vacation, family, hobbies, pretty much everything I did, were put into a Magic Bullet! It was a mystery of what the “Smoothie of the Day” would be but, I’m still me, the core of me hasn’t changed.
Breaking the comforts of normalcy gave me the ability and courage to shake things up. I was able to take risks I would have never taken had it not been for those painful fractures of last year. Out of the blended chaos of 2022, I not only opened a U-Pick Flower Farm, but I also accepted a new STEAM teaching position at Isom Elementary in Lynden!
STEAM? It stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math. My job is to inspire 4 years old to 5th graders to be curious about how the world works. I will be providing hands-on project-based activities using real-world situations and scientific phenomenas. I will encourage students to be creative problem solvers and to have courage to try new ideas to make the world a better place. Most importantly, I want to provide a safe space for kids to learn that failure isn’t bad, but is actually good and a necessary part of the scientific and engineering process! Students will design, create, collect and analyze data, and evaluate their results in a collaborative setting. They will learn how to clearly communicate their ideas while respecting other points of view as they work toward the same goal. These are our future leaders of America!
Boy! Am I excited about this! I feel I’m living out that mission in my own life. Growing flowers IS all about trial and error, research, and evaluating what works and changing what doesn’t work. Everyone can be a scientist, an engineer, a problem solver and creative thinker…it just takes a little inspiration and courage!
“Don’t be afraid to fail, be afraid not to try!” - Michael Jordan
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