Lees-McRae College News

The national championship Lees-McRae Bobcat Cycling Team was featured in USA Today in its Tuesday, May 6 edition.

To read the article, click here.

Lees-McRae College offers exciting and enriching programs throughout the summer months, and is pleased to announce the schedule for summer 2008. Programs include exceptional Summer Theatre performances, fun and educational non-credit courses and enriching lectures on Appalachia.

If you are looking to broaden your experiences this summer, or simply want to learn new things, our summer enrichment courses are for you. Designed for the general public, these non-credit courses are offered between June 7 and August 23.

The topics, listed by the date of the first class and instructor, are:

• June 7 – Ethnic Conflict: East versus West – Dr. Anatoly Isaenko
• June 7 – International Terrorism – Dr. Anatoly Isaenko
• June 16 – The Nature of the Appalachians – Dr. Stewart Skeate
• June 23 – Justice and Reconciliation: The Irish Troubles – John Mosbey
• July 7 – Square and Contra Dancing – Dr. Warren Doyle
• July 7 – Couple Dancing – Dr. Warren Doyle
• July 7 – The Water of Life: Appreciating the Finer Points of Scottish History and Culture – Dr. Fiona Chrystall
• July 14 – The Appalachian Trail – Dr. Warren Doyle
• July 15 – Beginning Clogging – Stacey Trivett
• July 15 – Beginning Tap – Stacey Trivett
• August 2 – Approaching Wine: A Basic Introduction – Dustin Ellis
• August 5 – Creative Explorations – Dr. Tessa Carr

The John B. Stephenson Lecture Series on Appalachia also offers enriching and educational experiences on Wednesday evenings during July.

First in the series is Dr. Peter Crow, Distinguished Professor of Humanities at Ferrum College and Director of the NEH Summer Institutes on Appalachia, presenting his lecture titled “Do, Die, or Get Along (Some Unexpected Coalfield Lessons in Cultural Exchange)” on July 9 at 7 p.m. in Abrams Auditorium in the Carson Library. He will be talking about his field research in the towns of St. Paul and Dante in the southwest Virginia coalfields, which was the basis of his recent book, Do, Die, or Get Along: A Tale of Two Appalachian Towns.

Next up in the series is Dr. Amy Clark on July 16 at 7 p.m. in Abrams Auditorium with her lecture, “Quiltin’, Cookin’, and Testifyin’ (Central Appalachian Women Writing Their Lives).” Clark is an Assistant Professor of Rhetoric at the University of Virginia at Wise where she also serves as the Founding Director of the Appalachian Writing Project.

Ending the series with “Appalachian Women during the Civil War” is Dr. John Inscoe on July 23 at 7 p.m. in Abrams Auditorium. Inscoe is a University Professor of History at the University of Georgia and considered an authority on the Civil War in the mountains of western North Carolina and north Georgia.

As an addition to the Stephenson Lecture Series on Appalachia, Dr. Warren Doyle, noted Appalachian scholar and Assistant Professor of Education at Lees-McRae, will a series of lectures called Summer Sunday Evenings.

Doyle’s lectures begin June 30 at 7 p.m. in Evans Auditorium with a slide/music lecture on The Appalachian Trail. This presentation on the famous 2,174 mile trail that runs through our neighborhood on its way from Georgia to Maine, has been well-received by audiences in many states who have described it as “informative, inspirational, entertaining and thought-provoking.”

On July 6 at 7 p.m., Doyle will present “The Life and Poetry of Don West.” Don West was a noted Appalachian educator, minister, activist, and people’s poet as well as Doyle’s mentor for many years while West served as the director of the Appalachian South Folklife Center in Pipestem, WV.

The final lecture in Doyle’s series titled “30,000 Miles of Trail Stories” takes place July 13 at 7 p.m. in Abrams Auditorium. This storytelling session has entertaining and thought-provoking tales from Doyle, who has hiked the Appalachian Trail 14 times.

FORUM and Lees-McRae Summer Theatre also offer wonderful experiences during the summer. For additional information regarding Lees-McRae Summer Theatre, visit www.lmst.lmc.edu. Please visit www.forum.lmc.edu for additional information about FORUM programs and patronage.

To view a PDF version of the Summer Enrichment Series brochure, visit www.go.lmc.edu/summer.

Lees-McRae College is pleased to announce that Dr. Walter Earl Fluker, executive director of the Leadership Center at Morehouse College in Atlanta, will deliver the commencement address during commencement exercises being held May 10 at 10 a.m. at the Williams Physical Education Center.

At Morehouse College, Dr. Fluker also serves as Coca-Cola Professor of Leadership Studies and is currently serving as interim director of the Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. Collection. Since 1992, he has served as editor of the Howard Thurman Papers Project. Under his direction, the Center has developed into a preeminent academic center for the study and practice of ethical leadership in national and global venues.

He is currently engaged in expanding a multi-faceted international leadership project in South Africa in partnership with The Oprah Winfrey Foundation, the United States Department of State and the African Presidential Archives and Research Center at Boston University.

Known as an expert in the theory and practice of ethical leadership, Dr. Fluker is a featured speaker, lecturer and workshop leader at foundations, businesses, corporations, religious institutions, colleges and universities as well as consultant to both national and international organizations. In his consulting practice, he works with professionals and emerging leaders in both the public and private domains.

“I met Dr. Fluker in Salzburg, Austria, at the 22^nd International Studies Program. He stood out in a crowd of 45 very capable faculty and administrators as someone with a very thoughtful and informed approach to life and learning. His considerable experience in working with many different organizations on ethical leadership issues means that he will provide our graduates with a wonderful message that clearly relates to Lees-McRae College’s mission of ‘inspiring and enabling individuals to contribute to a changing society with integrity and civic responsibility’ as they move to the next stage of their lives,” said Dr. Fiona Chrystall, Assistant Dean of Assessment and Effectiveness and Associate Professor of Environmental Science.

    More than 450 Lees-McRae College students, faculty and staff completed over 30 service projects during the College’s 4^th Annual Mountain Day of Service on Thursday, April 17.

Several groups chose to work on campus, planting flowers and spreading mulch, doing maintenance in residence halls, building a turtle habitat at the Blue Ridge Wildlife Institute, and recycling used electronics from local businesses and individuals.

Others volunteered their time in the community at agencies including Blazing Saddles, Avery Arts Council and Reaching Avery Ministries. Students picked up trash along the side of the road, helped with spring cleaning at the Banner Elk Presbyterian Church, removed dilapidated playground equipment at the Valle Crucis Park, and shelved books at the New Opportunity School for Women.

Participants finished the day weary, and many sunburned, but all with a sense of satisfaction, having completed a service project for the good of the College and community. Their efforts were rewarded with a celebration cookout on Tate Lawn featuring Fort Pastor, an acoustic, social justice band, whose members also participated in a service project during Mountain Day of Service.

“The point of Mountain Day isn’t to log or count service hours. The point is to come and work together, improve our community together, and to share fellowship with one another,” said Selena Hilemon, Director of Community Outreach at Lees-McRae College. “This is what being a community is all about.”

    The tradition of Mountain Day goes back to the school’s founder, the Rev. Edgar Tufts. Each fall, Tufts would surprise the school during chapel by announcing, “it was a good day to climb Beech.” Following the proclamation, the entire school would set off up the mountain. When they reached the end of the five-mile climb, a feast of potatoes and corn and sandwiches would be waiting on the group.

    Mountain Day was renewed during the early years of the 21^st century; more than 100 years after Tufts founded the school. It became a semiannual tradition, though the hike was limited to Wildcat Lake via the Hemlock Trail.

    Beginning in April 2005, the spring mountain day was dedicated to community service, leaving the fall celebration as a day of rest of fun.

    For more information about Mountain Day, or questions about how you can be involved, contact Selena Hilemon in the Office of Community Outreach at Lees-McRae at hilemons@lmc.edu. For additional information about Fort Pastor, visit www.fortpastor.com.

Join Lees-McRae’s wildlife rehabilitation students Monday, April 14 at 7 p.m. in Evans Auditorium as they share stories, photos and video from their month-long service trip to New Zealand.

A group of ten students and two staff members from Lees-McRae spent winter break traveling the north and south islands of New Zealand being of service to numerous rehabilitation facilities and learning about the wildlife and unique culture of New Zealand.

“The presentation will include pictures of the places we went, information on the people we met and some of the inspirational experiences that we had,” said Krista Lyle, a sophomore Wildlife Rehabilitation major. “We’re bringing some of New Zealand back to Lees-McRae College.”

You will have a chance to adopt a yellow-eyed penguin from New Zealand, as well as a chance to purchase photos, postcards and magnets featuring landscapes and wildlife of New Zealand. All proceeds from adoptions and the sale of materials will be used to help protect the endangered yellow-eyed penguins of New Zealand.

Lees-McRae College is set to host its annual Global Community Series April 7-10. The topic this spring focuses on moral leadership from the Baha’i perspective. The series will feature guest speakers and a dance performance.

“This semester’s Global Community Series on moral leadership will open our students’ minds wide with the example of the Baha’i Faith’s deep commitment to living the wisdom of the world’s religions, showing how they can work together for positive change,” said Robert Black, Director of the Global Community Center at Lees-McRae.

The first event is scheduled for Monday, April 7 from 2 to 3 p.m. in Evans Auditorium. Layli Miller-Muro will address the topic of violence against women. Miller-Muro is the executive director of the Tahirih Justice Center in Washington, D.C.

The Tahirih Justice Center is committed to creating a diverse community of support for women seeking refuge from gender-based persecution such as genital mutilation, honor killings, sexual slavery and abuse.

“Moral leadership is perfectly highlighted by our keynote speaker, Layli Miller-Muro. It is a huge honor to have her on campus. She has lived her life as a moral leader with integrity and a passion for justice which is an inspiration to us all. We desperately need to raise awareness of men’s violence against women, still such a pervasive problem both at home and abroad, and Miller-Muro’s life gives us the example we need,” said Black.

Following Layli Miller-Muro in the series is Dr. Gordon Naylor, executive director of the Nancy Campbell Collegiate Institute, a residential treatment agency for youth and children. His discussion, held on Wednesday, April 9 from 2 to 3 p.m. in Evans Auditorium, will focus on the role of moral leadership on our campus and in the world. Dr. Naylor has completed graduate studies in international education, clinical psychology, and educational administration.

Also on Wednesday, April 9 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. is a performance by Wildfire Dance Theater in Hayes Auditorium. This group of students travels and shares their interpretation of the Baha’i faith through performing arts. The Wildfire Dance Theatre, established in 1998 by The Nancy Campbell Collegiate Institute, works collaboratively with the Baha’i Council of Ontario and share a sincere desire to be of service to humanity.

Their dances tell the story of our planet’s present challenges while taking the audience through a time of reflection that will hopefully lead to greater understanding and change. The performance consists of a variety of dances from hip-hop and swing, to folk and aboriginal. Topics include racial unity, extremes of wealth and poverty, substance abuse and peer pressure.

As a precursor to the spring 2008 Global Community Series, Baha’i 101 offers an introduction to the Baha’i Faith for those unfamiliar with the religion. Susan Shuford, who has a deep knowledge of the Baha’i Faith, will give an overview to be followed by time for questions and answers. This will take place on Wednesday, April 2 from 2 to 3 p.m. in Evans Auditorium.

“This April’s Global Community week is a wonderful way for people to learn more about the Baha’i Faith, and the work these amazing members of our community are doing to help better the world. Because the Baha’i Faith is the youngest of the world’s major religions, many people don’t know a lot about it, or have misconceptions. This week can help change that in our community!” said Susan Shuford.

The Baha’i Faith is the youngest of the world’s monotheistic religions. Founded in Iran in 1844, it now has more than five million adherents in 236 countries and territories. Baha’is come from nearly every national, ethnic, and religious background, making the Baha’i Faith the second-most-widespread religion in the world.

Baha’is view the world’s major religions as a part of a single, progressive process through which God reveals His will to humanity. The central theme of the Baha’i message is that humanity is one single race and that the day has come for humanity’s unification into one global society.

“The April Global Community Series on Moral Leadership gives the college and the community a wonderful opportunity to explore the issues of moral leadership on our campus, in the local community, and in our society,” said Kathy Campbell, Lees-McRae College chaplain. “Our speakers and dance troupe are sharing the role of moral leadership from the Baha’i perspective and provide us with a great opportunity for dialogue about faith, ethics, morals, and how as institutions and individuals, we will be engaged in these issues that affect every aspect of our lives.  I hope that people will participate in the Global Community Series Events and in the conversation.”

The Global Community Series events are sponsored by Lees-McRae’s Global Community Center which also hosted Kerry Kennedy in 2007 and Arun Gandhi in 2006.

For additional information, please call 898-8729.

The Lees-McRae College Climbing Club attended a competition at East Tennessee State University on Saturday. Climbers had the opportunity to meet and climb with college teams from North Carolina and Tennessee.

Twenty Lees-McRae students, notably the largest team at the competition, joined 30 other climbers from Appalachian State University, East Tennessee State University, Belmont Abbey College, and Western Carolina University.

Four Lees-McRae Students placed in the top three of their division and were awarded prizes and certificates. Three Lees-McRae students placed in the New Climbers Division. Jacob Vigneault placed first, J.R. Phillips placed second and Tara Jobe placed third.

Although not placing in the top three, Hannah Trimble, Erin Tyler, Nathan Smith, Adam Phillips, Tom Cockerton, Valerie Jones, Dan Morris and Aaron Linville were close on the heels of the winners. Vic Almeyda, Hershe Crispe, Dani Usedom, Heather Morrison, Yaritza Acosta and Darya Fedoseyeva all made strong efforts, including Leeth Davis who attempted the very difficult Crack Climb. 

Lees-McRae College Outdoor Programs helped pay for the students to attend the competition, which was a great success.

All climbers learned a lot and were proud of their climbs,” said Dee Thomas, Director of Outdoor Programs. “Congratulations to all climbers!”

Internationally respected nutritionist Lou Niles N.D. will present a wellness seminar for coaches, athletes, and the college community Wednesday, February 27 at 7 p.m. in Evans Auditorium.

Come and join Dr. Niles to learn about the athlete’s paradox.

• How many long-lived, healthy athletes do you know?
• Why do some societies live well into theirs 90s healthy and some don’t?
• What should I be putting into my body for maximum performance?
• How to live a healthy long disease free life.

This educational information about your health and future will be a life-changing event. With just a few changes in your everyday habits, you can alter your future.

Are you looking for a bit of health advice? Do you have nutrition questions? Dr. Niles is here to help. Lees-McRae’s health services program is sponsoring an eating disorder screening in the dining hall from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday. Anyone who takes the screening will be entered in a raffle for two free movie tickets!

For additional information, please contact Jim McHugh at (954) 260-7444 or Dani Usedom at usedomdn@lmc.edu.

Are you looking for something to do during Spring Break? Are you interested in service and learning? Are you interested in exploring the world of advocacy and activism in the United States?

Sign up for this year’s Alternative Spring Break trip! This year’s trip is called Impact in America: Exploration of Activism.

The trip happens February 29 through March 6. The cost is $65 (including food, lodging and travel) for a trip to Washington, D.C. and New York City. Students will be visiting lots of cool museums, activist organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign, and of course, doing service at local care facilities like soup kitchens, homeless shelters and much, much more!

Many students on the trip will also attend the IMPACT Conference, a student conference on civic engagement that happens March 7 through March 9 in Boston, MA. The cost is $30 to attend the conference.

The Lees-McRae Fund office is pleased to announce the participants in our upcoming Phone-a-thon:  Bonner Leaders, Club of Athletic Trainers (CAT), Men’s Soccer and Delta Omicron Theta (DOT).

“With these groups and their history of calling alumni for phone-a-thon, I am confident we will be successful… and have loads of fun!,” stated Michelle Scott ‘86 ‘90, Director of The Lees-McRae Fund.  

The Phone-a-thon is important to The Lees-McRae Fund because it captures individual alumni pledges and it provides an opportunity for alumni to have positive conversations with current students about Lees-McRae College.  One way foundations measure the strength of colleges applying for grants is by the percentage of alumni who give—no matter the amount!

Special thanks to the sponsors/coaches who encourage and support these student callers during Phone-a-thon week!

Lees-McRae College is one stop on the two-week tour of Tour Baby Deux! to raise $500,000 for collegiate cycling and the Davis Phinney Foundation. The tour makes a stop in Banner Elk on February 5 in Evans Auditorium with doors opening and a silent auction preview at 6 p.m. and film screening following at 7:15.

In Tour Baby Deux!, filmmaker Scott Coady lives every cycling fan’s dream by following the entire 2005 Tour de France from start to finish, filming all the craziness in this “hilarious and intimate look at the Tour”.

The tour began on January 30 in Boulder, CO, and will cover 4,000 miles as it winds around the country to join up with the Tour of California’s prologue for a screening and fundraiser in Palo Alto, CA, on February 17.

This year’s tour is a follow-up to College Tour Baby! that also raised money for collegiate cycling and the Davis Phinney Foundation.

The Davis Phinney Foundation was founded by Davis Phinney, a former pro-cyclist diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2000. The foundation has one mission: to improve the lives of people living with Parkinson’s disease.

Tickets are general admission and are available at the door for $15 each. For more information contact, Doug Owen at nccyclist49@aol.com or (828) 387-6600.

Lees-McRae College welcomed students back for the spring semester with a pool party — in January!

After undergoing extensive renovations made possible by the generosity of the Charles A. Cannon Charitable Trusts and The Cannon Foundation, the Rhea-Lyons Swimming Pool opened its doors for its grand re-opening January 15 from 7 to 11 p.m. The evening was filled with games, music, fun, and, of course, swimming.

More than 100 students attended the pool party Tuesday evening to check out the pool and spend time with friends after the holiday break.

“It was great to see so many students and people from the Lees-McRae community come together for the pool party. We are all so happy that the pool is open again! It looks great and everyone seems incredibly excited to use it!” said Dani Usedom, Director of Intramurals at Lees-McRae. “It was also a great opportunity for students to hang out together after getting back from break.”

Regular pool hours will be posted at www.webcalendar.lmc.edu.

Valentine’s Day is lending a fun theme to this year’s Lees-McRae Fund Phone-a-thon. Students will be making calls to alumni for pledges to The Lees-McRae Fund February 10-13.

The Lees-McRae Fund is vitally important in the daily life of the College. It is from this fund that the College is able to use gifts where they are needed most—to positively affect the “Lees-McRae experience” of every student: upgrades in technology, in classrooms, in institutional scholarships, etc.

The number of alumni who give to The Lees-McRae Fund is as important as the amount of the gift! Alumni support of Lees-McRae College indicates strength and confidence to foundations from whom we are seeking grant support for major gifts—if you have not yet joined in the success of giving to Lees-McRae, it is time for you to invest in the excellence of a Lees-McRae education.

December 20, 2007

     Today was the day everyone looked forward to…a car ride to figure out everyone’s deepest darkest secrets. It was a 9-hour car trip all together in our small cozy van, bundled in like sardines. Oh how the car rides are so much fun. Nevertheless, most people slept the majority of the trip or listened to music on their ipods, and occasionally some people watched movies or read magazines and books. Before we got on the road we took a quick hike to Fox Glacier. It was about a 15-minute walk from the car park to the glacier view. The glacier was thicker than Franz Joseph (glacier seen pervious day) but not as wide or as tall. Fox Glacier looked more like a castle with a spiral swirled peak on the top and long narrow openings that appeared to look like stained glass windows. The different colorations of purple, blues and glistening white shined through the different openings. In the background the ice was melting and rocks were falling to the ground at great speeds. Glaciers are changing shape and formation consistently; it was amazing to see it just before our eyes. I preferred Fox Glacier to Franz Joseph glacier in terms of the free self-guided tour. However, if I were to take a guided tour, I would have loved to walk up and hike the Franz Josef Glacier because of its massive size. The glaciers were a truly amazing experience. Most people didn’t know what a glacier was until we got to see and learn about them first hand. Once we returned to the car park, we encountered a Kea. A Kea is like a parrot, which is highly known for its destruction to cars, especially rubber particles. A Kea can destroy a car in less than 10 minutes. It can pull apart the window lining, shatter all the windows, and take off the rear-view mirrors and antennas completely totaling a car or RV. We saw two different Keas jumping from roof to roof of the different cars in the car park. The Keas appeared to be playing a game… “Who could get the first thing detached from the car?” However, we were not able to see complete destruction, probably because numerous people were taking photos and hovering over creating a distraction. Our final destination was Lake Taukpo, where were going to be celebrating the New Year. We arrived so late that we had some dinner, took showers, and went to bed.

Natalie Burns

 

3 Mile Lagoon Hike - Okarito
December 28, 2007

    We all awoke this morning with an impending excitement of the day’s hike. The group was able to eat breakfast with a spectacular view of Franz Joseph glacier right outside of the kitchen window. We had a nice drive on a dirt road out to a beach and after unfolding out of the van, we set out on our way. As we descended onto the beach, Nina spotted a couple of guys that turned out to be from New Zealand and asked them about the hike we were looking to go on. We were told that in order to make it to the beginning section of the walk, we would have to beat high tide otherwise we would be stuck on the rocks! The beach part of the hike involved attempting to seek out small rocks to hop onto to avoid the sinking sand, which was pretty difficult to walk in. Many of us stopped to click pictures of the ocean and look for shells, while others forged ahead like soldiers. There were parts of the hike on the beach where large rocks dominated the landscape and the only way to the other side was to climb over or through them. For those of us that chose to be brave, great landscape shots could be gained by climbing on top of some of the tall rocks! After some inspection, we found the beginning of the actual hike. The start was a pretty steep incline, but we all made it without huffing and puffing. We took a detour off of the 3- mile hike to eat lunch. We walked across a bridge that suspended us over water. We sat down on a smooth pebble beach and ate. Some laid on their backs to sunbathe and others skipped rocks across the water. While the food settled, we finally began our actual hike. In the beginning, we knew who our power hikers were; therefore we paired up and went our own pace. At times the terrain was rough, but thankfully we all had a supportive partner or group of people that we were hiking with. The flora was a temperate tropical forest; the birds over our heads serenaded us with sweet songs as we walked along. There was a faint echo of the waves crashing on the beach as we made our way up the mountain. At one point on the hike, there was a part in the trees that gave way to a breathtaking view of the ocean. The sky was a beautiful light blue that meshed with the turquoise hue of the ocean. Ashleigh and Natalie took the lead ahead of the rest of the group and would leave us stacks of rocks, large to small, to show the paths that they had taken. The group that consisted of Whitney, Savannah, Brittany, and Robert spent a majority of their hike laughing and giggling when Whitney would stop in the middle of the trail and exclaiming: “I just can’t go any farther!” Needless to say, Whitney was able to go the whole distance thanks to the support of her hiking buddies! The group shared hiking stories after reaching the van, and we piled in to head back to the Glo-worm hostel for a night of rest and relaxation.

Charlie Herron

 

December 31, 2007

    New Year’s Eve has arrived! We started the day at Lake Tepako well rested, as we didn’t have to meet until 10 a.m. I on the other hand somehow managed to wake myself up at 8. Don’t ask me how I could do it so easily on my own that day and every other day it seems like a treacherous task to behold! Nina and Robert made me glad to be awake that early when they fixed eggs and hash browns for breakfast (yummy!) By the time everybody woke up, we discussed whether we would hike Mt. Cook then or the next day. It was unanimous, New Year’s Eve was our free day and we would hike the next morning. Everybody rushed to the lake immediately after our meeting. While some were soaking up rays, Natalie and I really wanted something to float on in the lake, so we decided to commandeer a couple rafts from a few guys. The guys ended up beaching their rafts a few feet away and came to talk to us, it turns out they were from Christchurch, NZ, and they came to the lake for the holiday. After chatting for a bit, I think they realized that we were eyeing the rafts next to them and they let us take them for a nice float around the lake. Well we didn’t really get that far- we ended up beached as well. As for the rest of the crew that stayed lying in the sun, well let’s just say they should avoid contact with the deadly rays for the rest of their lives! It hurt me just to look at the painful burns that covered their entire bodies. I’m talking blisters people! Let’s just say it was a harsh reminder not to skimp on the sunscreen…SPF 5,000 maybe? Well, after the hot tamales evacuated the beach, a Scottish band came through the area. I didn’t get much of a chance to check them out, but I was definitely digging the bagpipes from my spot in the sand. What a nice way to ring in the New Year in another country!

    After taking in as much sun as possible, the rest of us came inside to watch Grease while Joe and Robert cooked us a great dinner. They cooked up some tasty potatoes, veggies, and steak for those with a carnivorous habit. Not long after dinner, everyone was all prettied up for our dance party beside our rental van! We started the night with my iPod blaring “Brick House” just for Nina, I’m sure she loved it. We danced ’til midnight with our group, and a bunch of other random kiwi’s from the nearby campground. Once 12 o’clock rolled around we had not one, but three countdowns. I have to say, it was one of the best New Year’s Eves ever.

Ashleigh Stumler

January 1, 2008

    Happy New Year!!! We started the year at 12:01 a.m., with two countdowns!?! Don’t ask me why. We all went to bed soon after that because we were getting up early to go to New Zealand’s highest mountain, Mount Cook, or Aoraki in Maori.

    We dragged ourselves up relatively early and headed out toward the mountain. We all felt the excitement and anticipation of the magical destination where we would start the New Year. Before we got anywhere near the mountain we had to start off with an animal rehab opportunity. Nina spotted a black Labrador standing by the fence and was afraid it had been tied there and left. We slammed on the brakes and pulled one of our by now all too common u-turns. When we got back to the dog we found it was very skittish and definitely not tied up. It took off down the fence at great speed and we had no chance of catching it.

    Our first view of the mountain came as we rounded a corner beside Lake Pukaki. Lake Pukaki is one of the New Zealand lakes filled with “rock flour” (fine dust left when a glacier rubs across rock over thousands of years), which creates a stunning turquoise tint in the water. So as we rounded the corner over the amazing blue lake the massive majestic mountain loomed above it in the distance. It was like a scene from a movie when the hero finds a lost land full of dinosaurs, with no way to tell where we were in time. We had to stop to take pictures and Nina’s daring dash across the road earned her a disgruntled horn blast. We were tourists and we had to accept the fact. Every time we went around a corner from then on our jaws dropped as the dominating 3755 meter (about 10000 or 11000 ft.) peak seemed to get larger and larger in front of us. There was also a line of peaks that were almost as high in a line looming over us, with glaciers hanging down.

    After we reached the visitors’ center and decided on a hike to take we ate lunch to gather energy for the impending walk. We chose to walk up Hooker Valley towards Hooker Glacier. Several in the group were nursing sunburns after their “sun block malfunctioned” the day before while they lay out on the beach so two dropped out after we reached the first swinging bridge. The bridge hung over the grey raging torrent below and invoked a mixture of excitement and dread as it swayed with the rhythm of our steps as we crossed. The terrain was rocky but it was a very gentle grade so the hike was reasonably easy. It was inspiring to look up hundreds of feet on either side were waterfalls dropped from rivers truncated by glaciers centuries ago. The sun radiated its soft warmth throughout the valley. We walked slowly, stopping along the way to take occasional pictures of the next incredible view that seemed to appear around each corner.

    Eventually we reached the second swinging bridge, which was just as enthralling as the first. Others in the group who had said they would drop out had by that point been convinced by the mountain that they should keep walking despite their pain. The walkie-talkies Ashleigh had brought came in handy as we talked back and forth with the speedsters up front. The main group knew Natalie and Ashleigh had reached the lake at the glacier terminus so we pushed on to catch them up there.

    The lake sat below the most spectacular of the waterfalls we had seen so far. The wind was catching it in one place, spraying it out into the sunlight, which created the hint of a rainbow coming out of the face of the cliff. Icebergs floated in the lake having been left stranded by the glacier’s natural summer retreat. (On average the glaciers in New Zealand are advancing, which is one reason the experts are changing the name of “global warming” to “climate change”. The drastic spike in our global average temperatures caused by pollution is affecting different parts of the globe in different ways, which includes some cooling in this part of New Zealand.) The glacier was actually quite visually unimpressive although quite interesting. It was covered in moraine (rock carved off the side of the valley by the glacier), giving it the appearance of a giant Popsicle rolled in gravel. It was hard to tell if there was a glacier there at all if you didn’t know what to look for.

    After sitting by the small lake for a little while we headed back to the van and drove back to Lake Tekapo. It had been such a long day we decided to eat out at the Japanese restaurant. Many of the students have developed a love for sushi since we have been here so it was fun to eat raw fish with them, adding another cultural dimension to our trip. After dinner everyone was ready to crash and we all went to bed early to be ready for our next day of travel.

Robert Black

January 4, 2008

“The Royals of Taiaroa”

We started off the morning getting up around 7:00 a.m…this was very difficult for some people! Nina and Robert fixed everyone breakfast and then we headed off on our way. Our first stop was at Rosalie’s to drop off our penguin bags and our picture. We have given all the rehabilitators one of these as a gift and a way to say thank you! We then headed a little east of Dunedin to the Otago Peninsula to Taiaroa Head where we hoped to find a colony of Royal Albatross! When we arrived Robert and Nina went up to the information center to find out what we needed to do to the see the birds while the rest of us fixed lunch and chatted with the noisy Red Billed Gulls that hovered close by our “Chilly Bin”, or cooler! While we were eating lunch we had a juvenile Red Billed Gull approach us that had injuries to the back of his head where the other gulls were pecking at him viciously. Brittany caught him and we cleaned up his would and placed him in a box to take to Rosalie in the afternoon! When Nina and Robert returned they informed us that we would be going on a guided tour of the colony that would start at 1:30.

    I must stop a moment and say thank you to Nina and her husband Mike who decided to pay for everyone to take the tour. Mike called while Nina was in the information area and they decided that it would be such an amazing experience that they wanted to “donate” the money for the group to see the Albatross! So from everyone…Thank you so very much!!

    We had some time to kill before our tour started so we went up and walked through the small museum that was set up in the information center. There was information displayed about all of the different species of wildlife that could be seen and found on the conservation site: Little Blue Penguins or Fairy Penguins, Yellow-Eyed Penguins, New Zealand Fur Seals, Hooker’s Sea Lions, Elephant Seals, Leopard Seals, several species of Shags, or Cormorants as we know them, several species of Gulls, Shearwaters, and the Royal Albatrosses!

    There were videos playing all around the museum with clips of the different species and some of their behavior along with several videos that told about what different people and organizations were doing to help conserve the Albatross. One video especially remains in my mind; one of the biggest issues with Albatross is connected with the fishing boats. When the boats let out their lines the seabirds swarm the waters following the boats feeding on the bait that is placed on the hooks. When the lines are released from the back of the boat they don’t sink fast enough giving the birds access to the baited hooks. The birds dive for the bait and swallow the hooks along with their bit of food. They are then pulled under the water … attached to the lines … and drown. The video was entirely about this problem and what was trying to be done to help limit the number of birds caught by fishing boats. Roughly 10,000 Albatross are pulled aboard each month from the hooks and lines, approximately 100,000 a year. Different organizations are working to have the lines dropped from the side of boats instead of the back allowing them to sink faster due to the pull of the propellers and water and also having the lines weighted heavier to try and have them sink before the birds have a chance to go after the bait. These are some of the adaptations that Hawaii has already put into action and they have seen a dramatic decrease in the number of seabirds being caught by their boats. The video was very wrenching and really caught me off guard. I had no idea that this happened to seabirds. I knew that fishermen were always catching turtles and other sea dwellers that they didn’t mean to, but never would I have thought of birds. There are 19 species of Albatross that face extinction at the moment and this problem is one of the main causes. I believe that everyone who watched this particular video walked away from it with a mindset that they wanted to figure out a way that they could do something to help. The website that pertains to this information and other about the Albatross and how we can help them is www.savethealbatross.org.nz!

    We started off our tour by our guide giving us facts and information about the Royal Albatross and the conservation site that they were breeding and residing on. The first egg was found on Taiaroa Head in 1920 and the first reared chick flew in 1938. It was in 1937 when the Otago Branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand and Dr. L.E. Richdale worked to protect the colony from interference. The first field officer was appointed to act as caretaker of the Albatrosses in 1951. The colony has slowly grown and now consists of 150 birds or more. Each bird reared on Taiaroa Head is banded with a number and a color-code, this band allows the rangers to record the bird’s life history along with being able to distinguish the Taiaroa Albatrosses from other albatrosses that sometimes wander onto Taiaroa Head and stay to breed. The breeding birds arrive in September and build their nest during early November. The male builds the nest, before the female comes ashore; they sit and pull vegetation and dirt around themselves with their bills. The female will come ashore and find her mate…they do mate for life! If she doesn’t approve of the nest she will move it around and fix it the way she wants and then will lay her 500 gram egg during the first three weeks of November. The parents share incubation duty in spells of two to eight days over a length of eleven weeks…one of the longest incubation periods of any bird. When the chick is hatched the parents take turns at guarding and feeding it for the first 30 to 40 days. After this time the parents will leave the chick alone for 3 to 4 days at a time while they go off to fish. The parents tend to the chick for roughly 300 days before the chick spreads its enormous wings and is lifted onto the sea breeze. There are no practice runs, just one shot! After the chick is gone the parents head out to sea and will remain there for a year before returning to breed again. Each pair lays only one egg per season and only every other year. The young birds spend 3 to 7 years on the open ocean before returning to shore to pick a mate, once they return to their original colonies they will chose a mate and then return back to sea to be sure that their mate is the right pick. The average age for a pair to rear their first clutch is around 9 or 10 years of age. After we had listened and talked with our guide and watched a short documentary on the Royal Albatrosses of Taiaroa Head we headed up the hill to the observation building to see the colony.

    We were told that we were guaranteed to see 4 birds sitting on nest and we might be lucky enough to see one fly into the colony. We walked into a large open room full of educational displays about the Albatross and the shags that lined the hills above the ocean on the back walls and windows covered the front walls. The windows provided a view across the ocean as far as your eyes could see along with the most spectacular view of these amazing stoic creatures. There sat the Albatrosses, so majestic and elegant; their white feathers with the black contrasting so deeply with the grass as they huddled against the wind keeping their precious egg warm and safe. The sight out the window alone was breathtaking but the view along with these fabulous creatures dotting the hillside made it unbelievable. The birds have such a serene look to them, so peaceful and calm. We were told that the birds that were on the nests consisted of two males and two females. We were hoping to see one fly…Albatross have the largest wingspan of any bird, 3 meters from tip to tip and a body length of 1 meter from bill to tail…but we were all so mesmerized with the ones sitting on the nests that we almost missed the giant bird soaring in toward us from over the ocean. This is what we were all praying that we would see and now we were witnessing this magnificent creature soar just above our heads and circling above those on the ground. It shifted its wings to guide it in the direction it intended with no problem. This wonderful bird just floated on the sea breeze ever so gently. It was a moment that will remain with several of us for such a long time! The stunning creature landed close to one of the others that were on the ground and we hoped that it was going to be a mate and we would get to witness a nest exchange. It definitely didn’t have the most graceful landing, crashing to the ground on his head…oops! It turned out to be a young bird coming in to visit the colony. The rangers call these young birds “teenage birds”; they come into the colonies checking out the birds already ashore searching for a potential mate. He traveled around the hillside calling and chatting with the other birds. We watched as it stretched its wings a few times in hope that it would allow the wind to lift itself off of the ground and guide it high above the ocean. We didn’t get to witness it fly again or another come in, but we did get to see one fly and several sit so stately on their nests. We were the only group, up to that point, that had seen one fly that day and it was the first that our guide had seen all season. We considered ourselves very lucky and just maybe it was a trade off for doing the extra special deeds that we do each day! We watched the Albatross for almost 30 minutes before we headed back down the trail to our van. It had turned out to be an unforgettable moment that I think many of us will remember for quite some time!

    After leaving Taiaroa Head we headed into the city of Dunedin to spend some time before heading back to our hostel in Waianakarua. We spent a couple of hours in Dunedin checking out some of the shops and tidbits that lie within the city before picking up some pizzas and traveling on our way! The day turned out to be a memorable one for everyone and a good way to begin to wrap up our stay here in New Zealand! As for the Red Billed Gull…we plan to take him to Rosalie tomorrow, his head looks much better…just some surface wounds…and he gained the name Keri…the brand name on the box he was placed in!!

Savannah Trantham

January 5, 2008

    This morning we woke up and ate breakfast and then a couple of us went back to Rosalie’s place to take her Keri. Keri was a juvenile Red Billed Seagull that Brittany had captured the day before because he was being picked on by all the other seagulls. The seagulls had pecked the feathers out of the back of his head. When we got to Rosalie’s house we got out of the car and walked into her yard. She was standing their getting Keri’s cage ready for him. She had a really nice big cage set up for him. Keri looked really happy when we took him out of the box that we had him in and let him out into the cage. Rosalie laid some salmon down on the ground in a bowl and started hand feeding him. She did not hand feed him for long because once he saw that there was salmon he started eating it on his own. Brittany, who was the one who caught Keri, was teary eyed when we left because she did not want to leave Keri. Brittany asked her if she would post Keri’s picture along with his progress on her web site so that we can follow along with his recovery. She seemed excited to have him and guaranteed that she would take good care of him. We all left her place happy knowing that he was in good hands. When we returned to the hostel we picked up everyone else and headed on our way to Akaroa. The drive to Akaroa was beautiful. We went from mountains to a peninsula. The whole town surrounds Akaroa harbor which was a very beautiful place. Akaroa has a lot of interesting history. It was the first French Colony in New Zealand. In 1838 French commander Jean Langlois purchased the entire peninsula for 100 French francs. He then returned to France to encourage people to move there. While the French were on their way back to New Zealand the British had heard about them planning to colonize and they sent Captain William Hobson to assume the role of lieutenant governor over all the land that could be purchased. Just 6 days before the French arrived the British flag was raised at Akaroa. When we got to Akaroa we had to drive up a big winding road to our hostel. The hostel was called Onuku Farm Hostel. It is a nice hostel they have a really nice place. They have a really cool volleyball court. Everybody went down to play volleyball in the evening and played until supper. Nina and I cooked. We made pork chops, tofu, potatoes, spring rolls, and cooked spinach. Everybody had a good day.

Whitney McCown

 

January 7, 2007

Jackie’s Little Helpers and Heritage Village

    We awoke to the pitter-patter of rain on our roof this morning. After some heavy coaxing out bed, the group packed their bags and packed into the van. We traveled to a small suburb in Christchurch to visit a rehabilitator named Jackie Stevens. Jackie invited us into her home to discuss how she got her beginning as a rehabilitator and also getting some pointers from us on how we do things in our rehabilitation center. While we’re talking, a swallow flew to her sliding glass door and when she saw him fluttering there, she hopped up to let him in. The swallow flew from room to room in her house looking for her stash of mealworms. Jackie then told us about 5 German owls in her care and brought out one of them that suffered from head trauma. He looks a lot like the Burrowing owl in the United States. We talked for a while and then she showed us her facilities. Right outside her sliding door, there is a Wood Pigeon that lives in a bush. Jackie raised the bird and it is unable to fly, so she has been in contact with a couple of zoos as well as other rehabilitators trying to place him in a better environment. In her backyard, she had 3 large aviaries and one smaller one for her birds. She needed our assistance cleaning 2 of them out so that she could place a kingfisher in one of them and a German owl in another. We split into groups, half working on each of the cages. The resident in the larger aviary was a thrasher that was ready to be released and Jackie was more than excited to let us do the honors as we left for the day. After finishing with the cages and placing the thrasher in a carrier, we promised to return the next morning to continue our work. We went to a nearby park that was teeming with bird life and that’s where we decided to release the thrasher. Savannah reached into the box containing the bird to get a hold of him, however the bird was none too happy with being handled. He pecked Savannah’s hands quite a few times, but Savannah held the concentrated and patient look on her face as she got a better hold on him. When she threw him up and opened her hands, he took off strongly. We watched as he chose a tree and perched on one of the branches where we could still see him. We were all confident that he would fit right in with the other birds in the park. We all packed back into the van and headed to our hostel to prepare for our Maori dinner and show! We had planned for the dinner for a couple days prior to arriving in Christchurch, so we were all anxious to get there.

After doing a couple of U-turns, we finally found our way and reached our destination at Heritage Village. The trolley driver who pointed us in the direction of a circular dirt floor theater greeted us at the entrance. There was a young lady reading from an open book in Maori dress about the beginning history of the Maori people. Her dress was a simple wrap around type dress that was tan in color and had bunches of black yarn placed all over. Her voice was low but full of knowledge. There were also 2 men circling the dirt floor in front of us who were dressed like rogues. One had his face painted mostly black, and approached us to let us know how he didn’t like late- comers, kidding of course. The first two men left through a walkway and another man came through the same walkway carrying an ornately carved walking stick and singing a mournful song in the Maori language. He spoke of the peaceful days before guns had reached the tribal people and some had left the life of the village for the life of the Europeans who had began to settle in New Zealand. We were then told to follow him as well as our guide who had read to us in the beginning. We were given the warning to keep the children close as well as the women because “sometimes the men felt frisky and would snatch them up!” We followed a dirt pathway. We came up on a young boy drying flax leaves and he picked up a few of the leaves already dried and began to follow us. Our next stop was in front of a wooden bridge that led to a building that stood on stilts in the middle of a stream. The bridge itself had carved tiki men on posts that served as guardians. The group was given the blessing to pass over the bridge and then made our way inside of the building. We took our seats and the room went black. Many television screens lit up in front of us and we watched a short movie on the history that we had already heard about from our guide. The movie was more moving I think because of the visuals that gave us a real look at the people. It spoke of the relationship between the Maori and the Europeans that were settling and allowing the Maori to keep pieces of the land they had once inhabited. It also spoke of the impact that the arrival of guns had on the Maori people who were leaving the traditional way of life. The gun-slinging renegades that we had first met in the circular dirt-floored theater, who spoke of ruling with the power of guns, once again visited us. We were also introduced to the chief of the renegades that was a mountain of a man dressed in European style clothing. They gave way to a man dressed in a long loincloth with a fur sheath over his right shoulder. His thighs and face were ornately decorated in traditional Maori symbols. He introduced himself as the chief of one of the tribes that still practiced the customary way of life. He spoke of the life pre-European influence and how Maoris were usually peaceful people who would often resolve tribal issues through marriages, which would unite two tribes that were once feuding.

He told us that he was pleased with us and wanted us to visit his village and talk to the people within it. We stood and walked through the doors of the building. It was like stepping in a time machine and coming out in a completely different world. There were approximately 6 to 7 huts made of flax leaves woven together that you could walk into. Most huts had simple pallets inside that served as beds. There were also everyday tools laid out on the floor in some of the huts. Every hut had a person standing outside of it to talk to the group about their trade or to answer any question a person may have. One of the huts held my particular interest because the woman sitting outside of it was a basket weaver. She explained the weaving process and what some of the baskets were used for, which was mostly food storage. After some peaceful time of conversing, shouts rang out that the rebels were invading and that everyone should huddle with the men in front to protect the women and children. The chiefs of both tribes stood face to face, sizing the other up. After exchanging some words, the group made their way to another building. This time 3 garage sized doors opened up in front of us and we were able to watch the two tribes battle. They used walking sticks as swords and battled much the same way. Soon, the chief of the rebel tribe called his men off and the battle went from tribe against tribe to chief against chief. Sadly enough the chief of the peaceful Maori was killed, but both tribes mourned his death. He was carried back to the safety of the village walls to be prepared for burial. Meanwhile, the other chief had been stricken with a disease and was slowly dying. He passed his duties to his right hand man and died soon after. We were then flash forwarded to later years, which required us to load onto a trolley to see the church. We passed some proper ladies on a bench right outside of the church, dressed in hoop skirts and bonnets. We unloaded from the trolley and were met by some “drunken” Maori men who interspersed in the group that was crowded around the church doors listening to the preacher. He spoke of converting the heathens to the belief in God. The guy who had taken over as the chief of the rebels intercepted he preacher as he spoke and they argued for a bit over what was right in the belief system and that his people were not heathens. While the two men were arguing, the “drunk” guys were talking to people in the group. Savannah was given the choice to trade Brittany for rum. (I think Savannah made the trade!) After being traded, Brittany was then proposed to and one of the “drunk” guys gave her a ring made out of grass!

We moved onto the courthouse where a European man was charging one of the rebels with tearing down his fence. The judge looked extremely silly! He was young enough to have brown hair, but wore an ill-fitting white wig on top of his head. He made the decision that the hearing would take place in 6 months time and neither party was exactly happy with the ruling. The next stop on our trip through time was the raising of the flags. A Maori man held New Zealand’s first flag and a European man held the flag, as we know it today. Our guide read a passage that spoke of how the two cultures had finally found a way to peacefully coexist and this is why New Zealand was so culturally rich. After seeing both flags raised simultaneously, we were then lead to the place where dinner was set up! Everyone found a seat, all excited about the day’s events and now dinner. The host of Heritage Village took center stage and gave us some history behind the preparation of the food and introduced us to the chef. Before dinner began, the actors and actresses performed for us, which was to bless the food. The dancing was AMAZING. All of the dancers gave their whole heart to what they were doing. You could see the intensity in their eyes as well as their bodies as they sang out in their native tongue, stomped their feet and slapped their chests. Thankfully we videotaped the performance for future enjoyment. There is so much spirit that comes from these people and to see it live is out of this world. After rounds of applause, we were dismissed to grab a plate. We had lamb, fish, and chicken to choose from as well as carrots, potatoes, and many types of salads. The soup, which was seafood chowder, was delectable. Dessert was a New Zealand favorite called Pavlov, which is a type of cake with a meringue and fruit on top. There was also pudding and fruit salad to choose from. I think we stuffed ourselves to the point of misery! Whitney was quite fun to sit near. Every bite invoked an “oh my goodness” or “this is SO good!” All of the people in our group also practiced their Maori faces over dinner, which involves sticking your tongue out and making your eyes as large as possible. A majority of the actors had changed into their regular clothes and came to join us for dinner. The dinner itself is cooked in a traditional Maori way. A pit was dug in the ground and a fire is built at the bottom. Food is stacked on pallets of woven flax leaves according to the length of time each type of food requires. The whole process took about 6 hours for the chef to prepare that day. Night had fallen on Heritage Village and feeling quite full and giddy from the day’s events, the group loaded back onto the trolley and unloaded at the van. We all piled in, sharing our favorite aspects of the demonstration and dinner. We reached the hostel and we parted for smoke breaks, showers and bed! What a perfect ending to such a great day!

Charlie Herron

 

January 8, 2008

    It has become a routine to get up early in the morning after doing it for a solid month. Nina made her usual rounds of wake up calls around 7:00 a.m. to make sure we would have enough time to be ready and out the hostel door at 8:30. We were scheduled to arrive at Jackie’s house at 9:10 that morning to begin our service project. The service project incorporated feeding, cleaning, organizing, and any other jobs she needed help with. The previous day, it was noticed by many of us that Jackie was not used to being around large groups of people and gets easily stressed. Reacting to this, the group decided to have a single relay person who would get all the directions from Jackie and relay them to the rest of the group, instead of having ten people asking her at one time.

    Upon arrival at Jackie’s house, she was anxious to see us. Almost immediately we were able to get a list of jobs. The group was then split into smaller units that took over certain tasks. A group located in Jackie’s backyard cleaned perches, enclosures, and dishes. The group located in Jackie’s front yard took the tasks of cleaning small metal birdcages, small plastic pools, and a low-to-the-ground horizontal bird enclosure. With ten people and 20 willing hands, we were able to finish all of her tasks and more in about an hour. Jackie seemed amazed at our ability to do work and do it correctly, but she was more than satisfied with the results.

    During our visit the day before, Jackie explained to us about one of her animal charges. The bird is a swallow she is in the process of releasing. Her interaction with the swallow is strange in the sense that the bird is slightly imprinted on her, but she allows him to fly outside unattended. He has been known to fly off into the distance for a few hours but will return to her for feeding. Jackie is unsure if he will be able to survive in the wild on his own because he doesn’t recognize predators and danger. For the past couple of days she has watched him leave in hopes that he will be okay. It was an exciting moment for Jackie when her swallow came flying into the yard with a swallow friend. Watching Jackie’s face light up while she watched the two swallows flying around each other was like seeing a child get the gift they always wanted on Christmas. Her eyes lit up and a large smile broke onto her face as she clasped her hand together in front of her.

    The joy of seeing one of her charges making progress was shadowed by Jackie’s need for food to feed the animals. The company she orders her mealworms from was unable to provide her with any this time because he has having difficulty getting them to mature. This put stress on Jackie to find her birds food. She found that using sand hoppers, a small crustacean found among seaweed on the beaches, makes great food for some of her birds. Sand hoppers look like miniature shrimp, but are able to hop when disturbed. As a group we went down to the beach where Jackie demonstrated how quick you have to be in order to capture them. She did not spend the whole time with us because she was confident in our ability to catch the sand hoppers. As she left many of us were already trying our hand at getting the hoppers. The indicator of sand hoppers being in the sand, are the little holes on the surface of the sand. Using this knowledge, we all broke apart and found our own areas to begin digging. The first attempts were the funniest because we would try to grab the sand hopper only to have it hop out of our grip. The next thing you see are college students attempting to catch the hopper as it makes its way across the sand. After the first 10 minutes we got the hang of capturing the sand hoppers without much effort. Jackie left 7 or 8 small containers with us to fill with sand and sand hoppers. It did not take us long to fill the containers. With that task out of the way we decided it was time for a break and lunch.

    Lunch took place at a small picnic area just off the beach. There was a playground next to the picnic area. Sandwiches, the popular choice for lunch, and salads were eaten for our midday meal. As people finished they either lay on the grass listening to their iPod’s and enjoying the sun or went to play on the zip-line on the playground. Charlie and Brittany did a beautiful rendition of the once popular Spice Girls for all who walked by them lying on the grass. They were the afternoon entertainment. Time seemed to fly by us as we relaxed in the picnic area and before we knew it, it was time to head back to Jackie’s to drop off her sand hoppers.

    When we arrived at Jackie’s house she was happy to see us. Only a few people went to deliver the sand hoppers in hopes to make it less crowded in her yard. Nina presented the picture of us to Jackie who was thrilled to see all of our animal ambassadors and of course us! Jackie was very adamant about the group keeping in touch with her after we leave New Zealand. She also made the comment that if another trip came to New Zealand; they HAD to visit her again. It was really heart-warming to see how much of a positive impact we made on her life in only a matter of a day and a half.

    The next stop of the day was to Willow Banks. Willow Banks is a nature center that is also in the process of starting a rehabilitation center at their facility. Ami, our guide is originally from North Carolina. She moved to New Zealand 8 years ago and visited the Willow Banks establishment. She started out just volunteering her time at the center before a position opened up to her and she became a permanent part of the Willow Banks staff. The first thing most of us did when we arrived at the center was shop the gift shop…you know how that last minute shopping is! When we met up with Ami she immediately started our tour of the facility. Just outside the gift shop doors begins a New Zealand jungle excursion. The facility is based around a natural spring that has been made into a natural man made river. The habitats in the enclosures were purely natural areas. There wasn’t cement in sight. The walkways were wooden or gravel and all the animals were able to intermingle in the enclosures – a nice change from the zoo atmosphere. There are about 4 or 5 sectioned off areas that the river flows through. The first section we went into was the Kea enclosure. These birds came right to us when we walked in. Ami said they may bite but usually are just curious. The next enclosure created a large amount of excitement among the group. The Tuatara enclosure blew our minds away because unlike Kiwi Encounter, the Tuatara was out in broad daylight where we could easily see it. Ami took us behind the scenes at this point and showed us the area they are currently using as a recovery room for animals that just had surgery. The only occupant we saw was the resident Pukeako. When Ami learned of the groups’ interest in the Tuatara, she took us back where they kept the Tuatara’s not on display. Ami, who is cautious around reptiles, turned on the water one of the Tuatara’s came out of its den box; the others remained inside. After attempting to get the other Tuatara’s to come out, another staff member showed up that was willing to pick up the lizard. The staff member even allowed the group to stroke the Tuatara on its lower back and tale. This was the highlight moment for most on the trip. Charlie was thrilled at being able to touch a Tuatara, a dream come true for her.

    Ami rushed the group through the rest of the tour as she had feeding preparations to attend to…something we all know well. She told us at the end of our tour to feel free to roam about the nature center as we only saw one of the 3 trails. We took her advice and wandered our way down the trails seeing ducks, wallabies, farm animals, an assortment of native New Zealand birds, and other animals. At one point on the trail Savannah came across a goose displaying threatening gestures. Right below the goose was a young hedgehog. Always the one to save the animals, Savannah risked life and limb (not really, maybe a pricked finger or two) to save the misguided hedgehog. She relocated it to another part of the enclosure, safe from harm.

    Of course, before leaving we had to finish our gift shopping. Many of us spent time looking around the well-stocked store looking at things here and there. With money spent and hearts placated, we headed back to the hostel for our last meal together in New Zealand. Savannah and Brittany chose to make pasta with mussels. It was a great dinner with all of us together talking and laughing about things that happened on the trip. When dinner was winding down, a sense of gloom seemed to envelope the atmosphere. People split up to take showers, write in journals, read, play pool or make phone calls.

    Nina called us together later that evening to have our last meeting in New Zealand. We talked about the day and how everyone was feeling before Nina instructed us to lie on the ground and clear our minds. A slow calming music filled the room as Nina asked us to imagine each day on our trip. In the stillness of the room you were able to almost relive each moment in your mind. Towards the end you could tell that some people were becoming emotional. When we were ready to open our eyes again and sit up, a couple of the people had teary eyes. Then Nina explained another exercise we were going to do. We passed a feather around the group and whoever had the feather was able to speak their mind. Many of us revealed feelings about others while some told of moments they will treasure. At one point during this telling we had to take a short break to get tissues for those that had tears. It was nice to be able to tell our feelings to each other and go back and laugh at some of the jokes on the trip. In our minds we knew it was the end of a life-changing trip, but some of us didn’t want the trip to end. We have made so many new friends and memories on this trip. Now our lives will always be intertwined no matter where we are or what we’re doing because these times will be with us forever.

Krista Lyle

 

 

 

12/18/07

“Good morning everybody,
The sun is shining brightly,
The birds are singing gaily,
And we are feeling sprightly!”

Thanks to Nina, this was our gracious and pleasant wake up call at approximately 8:00 this morning, which is much more pleasing than an annoying buzzing of an alarm clock! After some groggy walking down the hallway to the kitchen, all of us ate breakfast and got ready for the day ahead. We stayed at a new hostel overnight called Hostel International, which became a favorite of the students after comparing it to Ponsonby Backpackers in Auckland. This hostel was nestled in the middle of many tropical looking plants and trees, as well as on the outskirts of a small town. The water front was a short walk away and was dotted with a few small boats. After getting packed up and loaded into our Kiwi Rentals limousine (aka our van), we made our way to the Whangarei Native Bird Recovery Centre. The founder of the center was a man named Robert Webb along his wife Robyn. There was a short paved walkway from the parking lot to the center. Two buildings that resembled mobile classrooms were set up on either side of a grassy area. In the grassy area, a small blue kiddie pool was set up and full of water for the free- range ducks and Pukekos. The Pukekos spent their time bathing while the ducks would stick their beaks in the water and run them back and forth, searching for goodies. We were lead into the building on the left, which seemed as if it was education based. There were mounted birds hanging from the ceiling, along with more mounts in glass cases. Robert had many Kiwi birds, which is New Zealand’s icon, mounted in the cases as well as steel spring traps (which he later explained to be the cause of many Kiwis loosing their legs). The walls of the building were decorated much like a kindergarten classroom would be. Many photographs of birds that had been rehabilitated in the center were posted on one of the walls like an altar. Colored posters and pictures played the part of wallpaper on the remainder of the walls. All of them were “thank- you’s” from students that Robert had visited to do presentations. Following a short informational talk, we made our way around the second building where the cages and aviaries were located. We passed cages with Roselle parrots, Tuis, and New Zealand pigeons, and kingfishers. As Robert was telling us about the foliage inside of the cages, we heard a voice that sounded remarkably like that of a baseball announcer’s from the days of Babe Ruth, making full sentences and phrases. Woof Woof is a full-grown male Tui that had learned to speak from the human interaction he was exposed to. He even speaks with a New Zealand accent! We had to practically be pulled away and teased with the promise of seeing a real life Kiwi before we would leave his cage front.

We were lead to another area where the aviaries for the recovering birds were. Something that struck us to be different was that Robert’s aviaries had no tops to them. We were able to go into the cage that housed two Harrier hawks and watch Robert as he attempted to handle one and bring it closer for us to see, but to no avail. We moved to the next cage, which was the home of a sleeping Kiwi named Sparky. Sparky is an ambassador that Robert takes to the schools to speak about Kiwi conservation. Sparky was caught in a steel spring trap and lost his leg as a result. Since Kiwis are nocturnal birds, Robert had to rouse Sparky for his debut to us. Sparky wasn’t happy with being woken up and made sounds of protest. After a few moments, he silenced and we were able to touch him. His feathers feel more like fur; it is thick and mottled brown. Kiwis have their nostrils situated at the end of their noses and will put it to the ground to “listen” for pulses in the ground which will tell them where prey may be. After figuring out where it is, the Kiwi will jab its nose in the ground and usually come up with food. After his photo shoot, Sparky was put back to bed and we made our way to the second building that we had not had the chance to explore yet. This building was where the injured and orphaned birds were kept before being out into the outside aviaries. There was a room at the entrance that had a cage in the corner, which housed a Harrier hawk that had been admitted to the Recovery Center two days earlier. We were all able to hold the hawk while Robert talked about the center and the bird itself. The next specimen we were able to see was an owl called a Morepork. The particular owl we saw had been orphaned. Moreporks are small owls, but they are almost double the size of our Saw Whet Owls we have at the center at home. The next animal we were able to interact with was New Zealand’s version of the possum. Possums here are considered pests because they are an introduced species and are detrimental to the native bird population. The possums here remind me of Bush babies. They have extremely soft fur compared to our opossum, and their ears and tails are not naked. We took turns handling “Pippy” the possum, and she made her way from person to person. When she reached Krista, she climbed down her back and began to urinate. The good news is Krista was a good sport about it and had extra clothing in the van! The rest of the tour of the second building was comprised of watching Robert medicate a young Kiwi and seeing the “house” that the kiwi lived in. Robert was all too excited to take us to the incubation room after leaving the second building. The Recovery Centre owned four small and two large incubators. One small incubator had two Little Blue penguin eggs and another had a Kiwi egg. While we were talking, Natalie noticed that one of the penguin eggs had a small crack in it and Robert said that it would probably hatch by the end of the day. The center had something to brag about when it came to the Little Blue penguin eggs hatching because no one else in New Zealand had been able to successfully hatch a penguin! Robert was able to share a couple secrets with us concerning egg hatching. One of them was when they are checking for movement within the egg, they will place the egg on a weight scale and lay a piece of uncooked spaghetti on top of the egg. The chick will react to the change in temperature and began to move, which in turn causes the piece of spaghetti to rock and move. Another secret was that if a human makes calls or noises around the egg, the chicks inside the egg would make noises in return. Robert held a special light up to the kiwi egg and we were able to see the size of the yolk as well as the chick inside. The kiwi chick actually is able to live off of the yolk for the first seven days after they hatch. Robert had a skeleton of a kiwi with an egg in still in the body. The egg actually takes up the whole lower region of a mother kiwi’s body. They are able to handle an egg this size because they have no keel bones. Kiwis actually lay the largest egg for their body size! We finished our time at the center talking about the importance of educating the public about the conservation of the kiwis as well as the native birds of New Zealand. We finished the day by going back to Ponsonby backpackers for the night!

Charlena Herron

 

12/20/07

Everyone had a good night last night. Most of the group got to experience their first hot natural thermal spring, which was conveniently located at the hostel. We stayed in Rotorua for 1 night. This is a big city, with thermal springs and hot bubbling mud springs. The city however smells of sulfur…yuck! Not far from where we were staying we departed our hostel and arrived at a place called Wingspan. This is the only falcon center in the country. Debbie (program director), Noel (trustee and bird trainer) and Mia (falcon trainer) showed us around their facilities. The building was an old horticulture center. It looks like and old green house. The buildings are made of rippled tin and are shaped like half-cylinders. There are three buildings. One of the buildings is an information center. This is where tea and lemonade were served and we gathered to share and compare information on our different styles of rehabilitation. The second building to the left after the information center was the aviary. This was a well-organized building with about 6 different large houses for the different species of falcons. Some of the cages had one bird, while others had 2 or more. Some of the cages had juvenile birds, others adults, and some were used for breeding. The numbers of falcons are declining because of hunters and babies’ eggs being stolen by predators. Therefore, Wingspan also incubates and hatches the falcons. Phoenix was their newest member hatched right in front of their eyes and seen across the world by cameras over the incubator. Phoenix is a baby New Zealand falcon that we got to go up close and personal with. He even jumped on some our shoulders. He jumped right up on my shoulder and rubbed his head against my cheek. It was amazing to see a falcon so tame. I was thrilled to be up close and personal with a baby falcon, yet startled by his sharp claws. Later to find out that this breed of bird is one of the most deadly in the world. No worries though…it thought of people as his family and Debbie as his mom. The third building was a small museum, more like a one-room area with stuffed animals, the history of falcons, and the tools and culture of the poachers.

In front of the three buildings is a large pasture for the birds to exercised daily. The birds were released by their external doors (similar to horse stalls). The exercising process is usually performed by one specific person for the different animals. Their cage is opened and they are released into an open pasture where the falcon trainer (Mia for the presentation we saw) stands in the middle of the pasture with a leather device that is fringed and a pair of duck wings attached. The bird has to perform 3 different swoops in attempts to catch the device. The device is attached to a string and is swirled in the air to get the affect of the bird catching its own prey in the wild. A peregrine falcon named “Ruby” showed us how the process was done. Once the third and final swoop was performed the catch (device) had a reward attached to the end. This process takes about 30 minutes. And is repeated 3-4 times depending on whether the bird is permanent residence or is about to be released. The people at wingspan were so generous and kind, with such knowledge to be shared with the group. It was a group favorite in terms of wanting to work with the falcons. Everyone left saying, ” I want to work here.” Afterwards we approached our 4 hours car ride to Whagnanui, where we were billeted, (a term used by the rehabilitator there), out to different families. During the duration of the trip an earthquake took place not far from where we were, but far enough away we couldn’t feel it because we were in our cozy van. This was the first time I have ever been in an earthquake and I didn’t even get to feel it, darn. Overall, the day was wonderful and everyone is looking forward to meeting their families they will be staying with for the next 2 nights.

Natalie Burns

12/21/07

The day started wonderfully as Natalie and I woke up at our host Dr. Thompson’s house. He fixed us a delicious fruit salad as well as copious amounts of cereals, toast, tea, and I even tried poached eggs for the first time ever! We had such a good time talking to him; he is 82 years old and served as a doctor in Nigeria for 22 years. He also introduced us to Italian opera; we watched a version of Cinderella and Odysseus, we found it very interesting. That morning after breakfast, Ian arrived to pick us up in his sweet Alfa Romeo to take us back to the rest of our group. Once we all piled into our van we were off to visit Bushy Park. We expected to do some trail maintenance at this reserve, but instead of doing trail maintenance, their conservation officer, Daniel took us for a little hike around the preserve. Daniel and Chris showed us different birds and plants as we walked through the “bush”. They talked about how the Kiwi that are hatched at the Kiwi Encounter are taken here while they are young and then placed in the bush protected by predator-proof fences until they are old enough to be placed back into the wild where their size makes them less of a target for predators such as stoats and dogs. Chris also showed us a plant species that he was the first to discover. He has been going though the DNA testing process, and soon he hopes to have his name included in the name of the plant. While walking in the bush, we got a chance to see a vine that was a few thousand years old called the Northern Rata that was 31.11 feet around and about 140 feet tall. This type of vine starts to grow at the top of a tree and grows down and gets thick enough to completely envelope that tree. After we left Bushy Park, we went to Dawn’s house. Dawn had set up a picnic for us outside. She told us about her center and about some different birds she has had in the past. Unfortunately we were not pleased with what we saw from her center after taking a look around. The conditions were not what we expected, and we really wished there was more we could do to help her out. She is defiantly in over her head with the animals, but all she wanted us to do was help weed the new Kiwi enclosure. We just hope that she can get some volunteers to give her a hand with keeping up her center. Afterwards, I realized the only positive way to look at the situation is that it was a learning experience. We now know that not every wildlife center has appropriate conditions, and we realize what not to do in the future if we were to have our own centers.

Ashleigh Stumler

 

12/25/07

Merry Christmas Ya’ll! It is Christmas here in New Zealand (Christmas eve for all of you). We are now in Nelson, New Zealand located on the north tip of the South Island. We arrived here yesterday a little after 7pm after a three hour ferry ride from the north island. Today has been a bitter-sweet day for a lot of us here today. We started out the morning by having a gift exchange. Several weeks before we left for this trip we all got together and decided that we wanted to create our own tradition for this year. We decided on doing a secret Santa gift exchange. We all drew names and then purchased a gift while we were here in New Zealand for our person we drew. This morning we all gathered together around 10:30 in anticipation of the secret Santa’s and their gifts! The whole trip Nina has been carrying around this green bag that she told us was banned from any students and that we would find out what was in it soon enough! Well this morning we found out! Before we did our secret Santa exchange Robert read a couple of short poems and then Nina broke into the secret bag. She laid in front of each of us a little piece of home. Nina had asked all of our parents to send her our stockings a long with goodies inside to open on Christmas morning. Each person had a different reaction, but all in all it was surprise with a lot of happiness. I think Natalie’s expression was the greatest! Nina laid Natalie’s stocking in front of her and she had this dumbfounded look on her face and then asked Nina how she found a stocking that looked just like the one she had at home and had decorated. After a couple of minutes of pondering she suddenly figured out that it was her stocking indeed! Each stocking was stuffed with goodies from home that each of our families had sent for us. Some had special notes and pictures and others with things that reminded them of home. There seemed to be an immediate lightening of attitudes and a much more cheerful atmosphere. It was very special for everyone to receive a special something from home on Christmas when we are so far away. After we all got finished with our stockings we passed out our secret Santa gifts and we opened those. Nina bought gifts for Whitney, Whitney for Joe, Joe for Robert, Robert for Ashleigh, Ashleigh for Nina, Brittany for Natalie, Natalie for Savannah, Savannah for Charlie, Charlie for Krista, and Krista for Brittany. Everyone seemed to really enjoy receiving the gifts and we had a good time trying to figure out who our Santas were. Once we finish with our gifts everyone dispersed for a couple of hours and then we all got together to have a Christmas lunch/BBQ at our hostel. Once we had finished with lunch we had the rest of the afternoon and night to do as we wanted. All of us along with a guy that we met from the sates headed to the beach to spend the afternoon. Robert decided to go on a hike so he did not join us on the sand. Half of the group went for a walk down the beach while the other half of us stayed in one area, laying on the beach and playing in the water. After a few hours several people wanted to return to the hostel, so Nina took that half back leaving four of us to continue enjoying the sun, salt and sand. She and Robert returned around 7 to pick up the rest of us and head back to the hostel to find showers and dinner. Everyone dispersed and did their own thing for dinner, many spent their time chatting with others who are in the hostel with us. This hostel has roughly 130 people that stayed last night and tonight there has been something going on since the moment we arrived and we have gotten a chance to meet some really interesting people from all over the world! Today has been a great day I think for everyone. Some have missed home more than others but everyone is loving the fact that we have had the chance to spend Christmas in the sun and on the beach!

Savannah Trantham

For the second year in a row Lees-McRae has claimed the USA Collegiate Cyclo-Cross National Championship in a repeat performance of last year. The Bobcats, led by senior Kacey Manderfield (Davisburg, MI) who grabbed another individual national title, bested perennial powerhouse Fort Lewis College (Durango, CO) who had beat out the Bobcats for the Mountain Bike National title in October.

The Bobcats, in just their second year of Division I competition, have placed themselves on the podium in all three national championships held so far this year, placing fifth as a team at Track Nationals and second at the Mountain Bike Nationals hosted by Lees-McRae in the first ever championships held on a college campus.

Fourteen cylco-cross cyclists represented Lees-McRae in the Cyclo-Cross National Championships held in Kansas City, KS, December 14-16. Training in Banner Elk where cold temperatures and snow are not unusual yielded an advantage for the Bobcats when cold, wintry conditions hit Kansas City during the championships. The cyclists buckled down to compete not only against other opponents but also against the weather conditions.

For the women, senior Kacey Manderfield pedaled her way to another individual title, outpacing her nearest competitor by 1:30 in the half hour race to claim the gold. In addition to her own success, Manderfield saw five of her teammates place in the top 21 of the field. Ally Stacher, a junior from Etna, CA, finished in the top ten, claiming eighth, while sophomore Carla Swart (Buford, GA), junior Krisit Henne (Plainfield, AR) and senior Olivia Maurey (Daytona Beach, FL) finished 13th, 15^th and 19th respectively. Jo Markham, a junior from Colliersville, TN, raced to a respectable 21st place finish.

For the men, it was senior Aaron Bradford (Auburn, WA) once again setting the pace for the Bobcats racing to the bronze medal a mere two seconds behind second place finisher Joey Thompson (Fort Lewis College).

The Lees-McRae men had a strong showing with five riders finishing in the top twenty in the national competition. In addition to the third place finish by Bradford freshman Mike Anderson (Alpena, MI) grabbed fifth place with classmate Eric Thompson (Shoreview, MN) trailing closely to claim sixth. Junior Scott Stewart (Oxford, MI) raced to an eleventh place position while senior Chris Consorto (Landberg, PA) also placed in the top twenty, claiming the 16th spot.

Also competing in the race for the Bobcats were freshman Brad Perley (Kennebunk, ME) and sophomore Scott Jackson (Chatham, NJ) who finished 27th and 28th respectively while Gonzalo Escobar, a senior from Falls Church, VA, finished the day in the 60th position.

In a sport set apart by a Team Omnium (which combines both men’s and women’s scores to determine a team champion) Lees-McRae continues to emerge as a force to be reckoned with at the USA Division I Collegiate level.

The Bobcats have their sights set on a fourth podium appearance at the Collegiate Road Nationals later this spring.

For complete results at the USA Cycling website please CLICK HERE.

Dearest Friends and Family,

We have not stopped since we have been here. This has been a magical time here in New Zealand. Every day has brought a new adventure. Everyone we meet has been friendly and kind. The rehabilitators have been always happy to see us, sharing with information, as well as sharing their wildlife with us. We have been gone almost a week now and this is the first time I’ve been able to turn on a computer.

I am so proud of the students. They have been respectful, appreciative, helpful, and use their rehabilitation skills so eagerly! We have had five days in Aukland visiting and helping local rehabilitators. We spent our last day observing a Gannet Colony who are in the nesting season, going on an interpretive walk, and going for a swim in the ocean. Tonight is our last night with the wildlife rehabilitators in the area of Aukland. They have invited us to one of their homes for a barbeque. We have had a wonderful exchange with them.

Tomorrow we will head up towards Whangari to visit another rehab center that is run by a couple. On the way we will go to Goat Island, an underwater park, to go snorkeling.

I won’t get into the details of the days as we are taking turns with daily journal submissions, which will be attached to the email. I will say that it’s amazing how all these different personalities have fun with each other, and take care of each other so well! Communication is important on a trip like this where everyone is operating so closely, so we try to sit down every day and debrief the experiences.

We will try to email out our journal entries every 5 days or so. Please don’t worry, everyone is doing well, and spirits are still very high.

Cheers,

Nina Fischesser

Student Reflections
12-13-07
Today we went to a wildlife rehab center that was located in the suburban Auckland. Lyn MacDonald ran the center. She dealt with mostly birds however, she had two hedgehogs. Her bird population included parrots, sea birds, and small songbirds. The birds that she had looked like they came form a pet store, she had cockatoos, lorikeets, numerous other species of parrots, and budgies. The songbirds that she had were the same that we have in the states, thrushes, blackbirds, starlings, and sparrows. She did have a few local New Zealand birds that included pekuko, a tern, a New Zealand Sea Gull, and a Cook’s Petrel. We spent close to five hours working at her center doing odd jobs and caring for the animals. After taking care of her center, Lyn took us to a friend’s, Phil, house. At Phil’s house we met Slug, Lyn’s 11-month old seal pup. After Phil’s house we traveled bake to Lyn center and walked down to the beach behind the center. At the beach we walked through oyster beds along the beach and marveled at the many differences between here and home. The difference that stuck out most in my mind was the constant birdcalls. I am used to the calls of our songbirds, but here the calls were