Since this has been a topic for me before -- how scientists volunteering to meet with kids can help break stereotypes -- I thought I'd direct you to some pictures that seventh graders drew before and after meeting scientists at FermiLab. If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then these pictures are worth 32,000!
I was directed to the site from a blog post sent to me. So I'm going to credit them: See the blog post here. Not sure if I completely agree with their "analysis" ... it's anecdotal, after all!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Thank you, Thank-You-er!
This year I had the fun and rewarding opportunity to organize a one-day outreach event at my workplace. Just the interaction with the participants and the warm fuzzy feeling afterward was thanks enough, but about a week later I received a hand-written thank-you card from the event's lead organizer. It was something so simple and yet it made me really feel like a valued member of the team. And it also made me realize that the next time around I'm not going to be lazy and simply send out a thank you e-mail to those volunteers that I was responsible for. I know it seems anachronistic to say this on a blog, but nothing beats good old fashioned hand-writing. Not for that personal "I know you spent time and so now I'm spending time to thank you" message.
It also reminds me of a time when I received another special "thank you" message that I would love to replicate some time for someone else. Once I gave a volunteer talk at a middle school on soil science during their week celebrating earth sciences. A short time later I received a bulging manila envelope in the mail from the school. The brilliant teacher had printed out a card -- the kind that you can put on a single sheet of paper and fold into quarters -- and passed them out to every single student in her class, then sent them all to me. Each one had written me a short little note. They were just a hoot to read. I especially liked the ones that mistakenly called me "Dr. Moran" -- thanks for the extra degree, kids. Some were simple "Thank you for coming to our class" to "Wow, I didn't know that soil was so important!"
So thanks for the thanks, and thanks for the thanking ideas!
It also reminds me of a time when I received another special "thank you" message that I would love to replicate some time for someone else. Once I gave a volunteer talk at a middle school on soil science during their week celebrating earth sciences. A short time later I received a bulging manila envelope in the mail from the school. The brilliant teacher had printed out a card -- the kind that you can put on a single sheet of paper and fold into quarters -- and passed them out to every single student in her class, then sent them all to me. Each one had written me a short little note. They were just a hoot to read. I especially liked the ones that mistakenly called me "Dr. Moran" -- thanks for the extra degree, kids. Some were simple "Thank you for coming to our class" to "Wow, I didn't know that soil was so important!"
So thanks for the thanks, and thanks for the thanking ideas!
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