There’s something wonderfully hopeful about September. The coming of fall. The beginning of school. A whole new year starting off.
Of course there are pitfalls too: the looming uncertainty that comes with every new beginning: new classmates, new teachers, new courses; new decisions that must be made that may just affect the rest of a student’s life; and then, of course the threatening storms that breed in the tropics and sometimes come our way —as one approaches the east coast, even as I write, this Labor Day Weekend.
WISE too is starting up again, as it does each year, always with a brand new batch of WISE students who plunge into something even newer and more unfamiliar to them than the usual crop of new courses and experiences that have greeted them in the past when they returned to school. And that’s part of the excitement and wonder of WISE. At last, a chance to do something uniquely “you”. Something you may always have wanted to do…or something you might have suddenly dreamed up on the spur of the moment and decided was really worth trying.
Mentee and Mentor: Presentation Time
Not to mention a chance to work closely with an understanding and supportive adult who will simultaneously challenge and support you.
And that is something that is equally exciting for those of us who are WISE mentors and who find not just satisfaction but true fulfillment in working side by side with the WISE students who have chosen us to be their mentors. For WISE coordinators too, who watch their programs develop each year, each program in a slightly different way from the previous year, shaped as it is by the individuals within it – a wholly satisfying and always gratifying prospect.
Ithaca High School WISE 2015 – 2016
Over the next few days, I thought I’d share a few WISE beginnings from the past: proposals and beginning blogs of WISE students, from different years, from different schools, just as a reminder of the assortment of things that go on out there. I thought I’d start out by turning time upside down, with a farewell and then a hello from Zoe Merod, a 2016 WISE graduate from Ithaca High School. Why begin at the end? Because Zoe’s final blog, published in June, encapsulates the WISE experience perfectly.
We have reached the end. The time has come to say farewell. Although I don’t feel like this journey is completely over, and there is still a lot to do, I can positively say that the past 16 weeks have been an experience I won’t soon forget.
I explored, I discovered, I played, I got my hands dirty, and most of all, I gained a deeper understanding of the topic at hand as well as myself.
This entry acts as a farewell to all the memories, the people, the places and the food that I cultivated into one giant resource for increasing my knowledge of medieval cooking and culture.
I am thankful for the support system and the community that built itself around me and believed in this project since the very beginning. I can’t wait to see what the final presentation has in store.
Through the emotions, the triumphs, the failures, the car rides, conversations and taste tests, I made it.
Thank you WISE for instilling in me the power to make my own way and immerse myself in what matters most.
Farewell.
And her beginning:
Medieval Food and Culture: I am so excited to start on this journey. For the next 16 weeks I will be learning about Medieval Food and Culture in order to better understand a time period that has fascinated me for as long as I can remember. Along the way I will be cooking, testing and tasting dishes that will broaden my perspective on life in the Middle Ages.
Stuffed Pears with Plum Sauce
What thrills me most about this project is the fact that it melds together two ofmy greatest interests; medieval history and the art of food and cooking. I will be practicing and sharpening skills I already possess such as baking techniques and knife skills as well as stepping out of my comfort zone and getting my hands dirty. This project will also include a deepened focus on a specific castle; Kidwelly in Wales to help guide my research into understanding more about historic Welsh food and culture.
The end goal for all of this: A Medieval Feast set in a way that transports my guests in time. I want to create an experience that captures the romance, mystery and intrigue that Medieval history has so long impressed in me and share with others.
We now have all sorts of new beginnings to celebrate. I’ll be including other beginnings, and some details about the projects that ensued, over the next few weeks. And I hope to get started on this year’s incipient projects as well. Coordinators, mentors, students: please email me with new ideas and inspirations so we can start shining the spotlight on a brand new year: ellennodelman@wiseservices.org
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