Lesson 421: The Sky is Not the Limit

School's out for four-fifths of the Lamp Post dwellers.

Ellen Louise already has her paintbrush in hand.

I have the ideas,

and she has the talent.

I buy the supplies,

she does the work.

Nice set-up.

Go paint the world, Ellen!

The sky's the limit!

Or is it?

Thinking Assignment for the weekend:
Is this an encouraging statement or a limiting one?

Eloise will side in this way:

Skies sure are pretty this time of year.

Breathtaking, actually.

The sunset reflection from 100 State Street

was my favorite of the night.

I took the snapshots a from the Second Street parking lot

after the Harbor Creek High School graduation

at Erie's Warner Theater.

Graduates,

Mrs. Eloise gives you this advice:
The Sky is Not the Limit!

YOU are the sky!

Farewell, students.

Mrs. Eloise is excited for what lies ahead for you.

I have a full summer's worth of activities ahead for me!

Last weekend my Challenge Erie group climbed the ski slope 

at Peek-n-Peak.

When we reached the top,

we truly felt like were on top of the world.

We love summer here in Erie.

There isn't a beautiful day that passes unappreciated.

Even on the most beautiful of days,

the water is still cold.

Not too cold for Sam

or my 12 year old dog.

We looked to the sky on Memorial Day at sunset

and spied a drone.

I love drones.

Drones are cool.

I haven't been able to get my long, bony fingers on a drone controller yet,

but I was along for the ride on the next best thing.

Some of our Junior and Senior High School students

launched a space balloon.

Our first attempt at a four month long science experiment

was a complete success.

This Science Technology Engineering and Math project

(STEM)

involved problem solving 

and teamwork.

Our balloon took flight from Edinboro, Pennsylvania

at 3:16 pm

and landed in Chautauqua Lake, New York 

at 5:30 pm.

The orange speck in the center right of the photo 

is the balloon entering our line of sight.

The funny thing is,

we moved our launch site south at the last moment,

fearing that if launched from Harbor Creek as planned,

it would land in Lake Erie.

We wanted to avoid that water landing.

Life is funny like that.

Turns out, it floats!

We learned that if you simultaneously scream and wave your arms

you can attract the attention of a friendly boater.

The students planned well.

Everything worked,

and the Go-Pro camera that was strapped to the outside 

recorded the balloon's flight.

It was a great learning experience for everyone involved,

worthy of busting out the selfie-stick!

We'll keep at this students!

There will be more opportunities on the horizon.

My elementary STEM project involving

the collection of paper tubes was also totally tubular!

The elementary students collected 3,300 tubes!

Fierce!

We built replicas of the Alaskan oil pipeline

and discussed environmental issues for the last six weeks of the school year.

First stop after leaving school today was to Penn State Behrend.

I had a special delivery to make on behalf of the Harbor Creek School District.

The Engineering Outreach center was the recipient of all of our surplus.

The Outreach Center and the college girls who plan out

Women in Engineering Day,

will have a little less collecting to do this fall.

They have given me so many good ideas to use in my classroom,

that it was time I gave back.

There is no limit to this sweet teen!

Her talent is limitless.

If you missed the audition of the 13 year old opera singer

on my favorite summer TV show,

America's Got Talent

(with Simon Cowell newly added to the judging panel),

click the link below.

13 Year Old Opera Singer CLICK HERE

The sky is no limit, Readers.

Fly high this weekend and go see what you can do.

ELOISE