Massachusetts on a fall day

I planned to stay home today to catch up because I'm a bit behind but the weather looked bad for tomorrow so I headed out even if it was later than I'd like to leave.

What another great day! I'm in mid Massachusetts now - Oxford High School (would you believe they were paving the entrance so I had to go over someone's lawn - with their permission), Blackstone High School (loved the parking space for the Teacher of the Month), Sutton, Northboro and Shrewsbury. What a school that was! It had about a one mile entrance blasted out of rock. The schools was at the top of a high hill and was so impressive.

I'm very impressed with the schools in Massachusetts. Many are really spectacular. It sure does help to have schools that are new and inviting. Life is tough for teens today and having beautiful schools certainly doesn't hurt.

I really enjoy talking to the secretaries and the students that I run in to. Teens are so great! Miss working with them daily but hopefully taking on this mission of sharing this program will ultimately make their lives better.

Two more days

I forgot to journal my school visits last Thursday. It was a short day - only got to Wrentham (they were having a police/fire incident and the secretaries seemed glad for the positive boost), Mansfield and Brockton. As usual, things take longer than I expect but I also learned some things that made today go much smoother.

I hadn't been able to maximize how to do this procedure. I have no office help at this time because all my money is going into supplies, training and gas to get the word out so for now, I do all the steps. But what I decided after last week's trip was to print out the envelopes and have enough materials for the entire state of Massachusetts (quite a pretty state by the way!). That way I can pick a main road and grab all the envelopes of towns along the way. If I see a sign for a town that I might have missed on the map, then I can just grab that envelope and visit that school too.

With that new strategy, I made it to 7 schools today - my best record yet! And I was done by 1:00, in time to make it home for a meeting I had for the web design part of my life (something has to pay the bills until schools realize that what I have really does work).

So today was Foxborough (I forgot to drop off the principal's letter), Walpole, Sharon, Dedham, Norwood (great pathway to the front entrance with commemorative bricks and seats), Canton, and Stoughton. I'm learning quite a bit about schools and their websites. In fact, I don't know if anyone's interested, but I'm going to start a page on my website where I offer suggestions to schools from the visitor's standpoint. There most likely aren't too many people who have my educational background, my web design knowledge and the chance to visit so many sites. I won't mention negatively any schools but I will commend some of the positive things that really helped me find what I needed. Look for that page in the next entry.

Off to line up tomorrow's day...I'm excited now that I can do so many in one day. Got to get as many in as possible before the weather gets nasty!

Back on the road

I finally got back on the road today after a week layoff. I got back to an area where I missed a few schools - Hingham, Scituate, Fairhaven, Carver and Middleborough - all in Massachusetts. Another beautiful day on the road, another day of smiling faces in the offices I visited. I'm getting more comfortable with my visits which is making it easier. I do enjoy the surprised looks and the appreciation. Who could't use a nice surprise in a busy day?

The GPS is working great. It's taking me places I've never been before. It cuts me through neighborhoods but not for long because it's finding me the direct routes to the nearest highway. New England certainly is beautiful even in the late fall with many of the leaves off the trees.

Time is passing quickly. I'm planning to go out again tomorrow but didn't want to stay overnight anywhere tonight because it's Halloween. Last week was productive even though I wasn't on the road (too many nights staying up late watching my Boston Red Sox win the World Series - why don't they have earlier games so kids can watch them??). I got a lot more supplies lined up. Everything takes longer than I think so between printing out the Stress Reduction strategies for the high school secretaries, finding the names of the high school principals, charting out a course, filling the little candy bags with 5 candies and a smile eraser, it's good in a way that I have some non driving days.

Time for some late lunch and then can get ready for tomorrow's destinations, make the changes I needed today (keeping a notebook for mileage, schools visited and reminder postcards to be mailed out in 2 weeks).

Hope all the educators survived Halloween in school today which is always challenging to be sure and of course, I hope they have a fun night!

Rainy Day Travels

I decided to put a day between travel days when possible to catch up on other business items, to drink lots of water (tough to do when you're on the road especially in some of the more rural areas) and to create more of a sense of balance.

So I worked in my home office on Thursday catching up on my other business - web design and internet marketing. Thankfully the web design is bringing in income because to date, the school curriculum has not for the most part. I learned (and am still learning internet marketing) to help schools find my website and it's a fascinating addition to my business which hopefully will help support me and pay for these trips to visit schools.

Today I took my Mom with me on the road and I went back to catch some of the schools I missed two days ago. This time I started on the Cape at Sandwich High School followed by an attempt to get into Bourne High School (front door locked, rang the doorbell 3 times - must mean no one was in the office), Wareham and then up the east coast of Massachusetts to Kingston, Norwell and of course whichever one I forgot. I never made it to Scituate and Hingham for despite being on the road at 9:30, I ran out of time to catch the last two.

The biggest dilemna today was the rain. The forcast said cloudy with occassional showers. I know when the showers happened...every time I pulled up to a school! I was like a drowned rat by the end of the day! My Mom couldn't believe that the hardest rain fell every time I got out of the car. Don't know if I'm being tested to give up...but it's only a little water...and I'm not done yet!

Anyway...five more schools know more about this program than they did this morning...a good day all things considered especially when the secretary smiles and says, "You're thanking us? No one every thanks us!"

Thank you...to all the people who make a high school run! Our teens (and often their parents) may not say thank you...but know that your work matters!