SDAWP SI 2026

  Some of us just hate snorkeling. Often, the perceptions that we have of ourselves are not always accurate.  And it can be jarring and surprising when the assumptions of ourselves prove to be untrue.  As a little girl I would lay in my bed at night and dream of the adventures I’d have later in life.  I viewed myself as a risk taker, thrill seeker, one who weighed the risks but usually said “count me in”. So when I was in my early thirties and on my honeymoon with my wife, of course I couldn’t wait to zipline, snorkel, and go horseback riding on the beach.  I was ready for every active excursion our all-inclusive resort in Cabo had to offer.  Ziplining was a blast.  Horseback riding was a scene filled with lots of laughter and timeless memories.  And then there was snorkeling.  Snorkeling was like waking up on Christmas morning as a young child only to find no presents under the tree.  Disappointing, confusing, and distressing. It was ...

During the first trimester of sixth grade, my daughter was assigned to write a paragraph about a historical figure. That afternoon, when I picked her up from school, she looked frustrated. "Mom, I don't know what to write," she said. At first, I assumed she was struggling with writing. After asking a few more questions, however, I realized that writing wasn't the problem. She simply didn't know enough about the historical figure to write about the topic. She had been given a writing assignment before she had the opportunity to build the background knowledge necessary to communicate her ideas. That evening, we approached the assignment differently. Before she wrote another sentence, we read a short informational text together and watched a brief video about the person's life, accomplishments, and historical significance. We talked about what we had learned, discussed interesting facts, and connected the information to what she already knew. The next afternoon, ...

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  The lunch box. Physical memories and personal fashion statements of youth. The square, but not quite square of metal emboldened with technicolor designs of the hottest thing on the block. They were as much a conversation piece as a carrier for food. You knew in a matter of seconds who liked the same TV series or music as you. Did they watch Super Friends , Scooby-Doo or The Six Million Dollar Man ? Perhaps KISS or The Partridge Family were their musical jam? It was the first example of a status update before social media was even a thought. Inside each embossed tin was a thermos that kept things neither hot nor cold nor safe. Then again, the safe part might have been due to lunch box races; the starting gun firing as soon as someone yelled “Go!” and ending when the flung mealtime repository skidded past the end of the farthest classroom. The advent of plastic lunch boxes put the kibosh on the sport due to the general lack of good friction. Plus, the muffled bump along the linol...

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