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- One of the biggest things
that I think is needed in education
is just a way for kids to
do project-based learning.
And that's great, it sounds wonderful.
The kids need to do it,
they need it to carry on
for the next careers that
they're going to be doing.
They need those skills, but
it's very difficult to fund.
- Okay, so we went to
Chaco Canyon last October
and we took about a two
hour hike the first day
which was really fun.
We visited about four or
five different pueblos.
And I think the coolest thing
for me was just learning
about the different cultures
while we were there.
And kind of looking at
the different petroglyphs
and the different ones on the
walls and drawing them out
and discovering the meaning of every one.
- And so every year we have these projects
that we want to go do for the parks,
for the community, and actually
create a product for them.
Not just work with them, but
actually give them something
that our kids could create for them.
And then it serves the public.
- The main part of our project
is we make an activity center
for children so they
can come and learn more
about the culture in a way
that they understand it
because it can kind of be difficult.
So we're actually creating an app for kids
and it's more of like a game
so it's like a scavenger hunt
so they can earn points and
earn rewards as they do it.
And then they can get a prize
at the visitor's center there.
- And for the app it's kinda
hard because you have to think
through the way of like children think,
so you can't really make it that hard.
So you have to make it really simple
and easy for them to use.
- So let me give you an
example of how these kids
had to go through this whole deal.
They had to become archeologists.
We had to, in order to get into Chaco,
and do any kind of research,
you have to actually
write up a professional
archeological proposal,
which our kids did.
They had to do all of the
research about Chaco Canyon
and do it as an archeologist
would just to get in the door.
And then we were accepted because they did
an exceptional job in
writing an amazing proposal.
- Because there is a lot more to Chaco
than when you just go
there and look at it.
If you read what other
people said about it
you can learn more and
do into depth with it.
So, for kids I guess
it would be pretty cool
if they learned a lot more
than they're supposed to.
- Yeah, it's hard, but
it's definitely worth it.
And what it's going to bring
to Chaco is really special.
And I think that working
on it has taught me a lot
about specifically, how organized
you have to be in a group.
- In school you do a lot of
book work and it's really boring
and, honestly, a lot of kids check out
and you don't really learn.
And, with Mr. Sleeter I
feel that I've learned more
than any other class I've ever been in.
- I think it's really
good hands-on experience.
Cause, I mean, I can say I took psychology
and sociology early on
in my high school career
but to say that I took one of the only
anthropology classes in
high school is a really good
segue into actually
being an anthropologist.
- I think this has been
the most valuable class that I've taken.
He's taught us so much about Chaco
and just about culture as a whole
and he's just taught us
more about us as well,
and helped us to look into
the deeper meaning of things.
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- Thank you so much 'cause
without it we probably wouldn't
have been able to go
to Chaco and just have
a great experience 'cause I can guarantee
that I'm never going to
forget the trip to Chaco.
- To walk in my classroom
and to see these kids
working at this level with the things
that now they get to work with,
we have artifacts we have all these things
that we are creating
that we couldn't create
without the donors.
This would just be a
dream without this program
and that's whey we're so grateful
and we're going to use every cent
and we're going to send
these kids out there
and give them experiences
so that they'll be
wonderful community members
because of the donors.
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