The greatest all-palindrome song ever. Also a test to see if I can show youtube videos from here…
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Zoe, Connor and Nina, along with Lia, Peter and Jacob, passed the Junior Black Belt karate promotion test at Thousand Waves dojo on October 21, 2006. The test was administered by Thousand Waves founders Jun Shihan Nancy Lanoue and Kyoshi Sarah Ludden.

When the students are invited to test, they must first write a paper extensively describing their experiences as students at Thousand Waves. The test itself is a grueling, three hour examination including oral questions about their papers and karate studies, performance of intricate series of moves called katas, board breaking, and a long session of sparring with a group of older students and instructors. Zoe, Connor and Nina prepared diligently, and all the students did extremely well. Congratulations!

Many photos of the test can be found here

Zoe’s Science Fair project on the effect on soil health of organic versus conventional farming methods is finally finished. Well, not quite. The three judges at her school, Hawthorne Scholastic Academy, each gave it a score of 100 out of 100, and now it will be going to the regional competition in January. Zoe’s science teacher, Ms. Sonja Suzanne Oliveri, has been a great mentor for her throughout this process.

The project was a lot of fun. We took a trip to the Angelic Organics farm in Caledonia, IL, at the end of August to get a first-hand tour of an organic farm. Special thanks are due AO’s Deb Crockett for all her help. Then in October we took soil samples from Angelic Organics and a conventional farm to A&L Great Lakes Laboratories in Ft. Wayne, IN, for testing. A&L’s lab director Lois Parker graciously gave us a complete tour of the facility, despite the fact that we came at their busiest time of year.

The test results showed the organic soil was higher in nutrients, had much more organic matter, and was better able to hold nutrients for crops to use - three key tests of soil health. Plus, the organic soil looked like real dirt, while the other soil looked like lumpy clay.

Zoe will make a few changes for the district competition; chiefly getting more samples to test in order to make statistically stronger conclusions. She worked very hard on this - her research paper was about 35 pages - and it’s great to see her getting the recognition. Good work and good luck!