In early, February, quite literally the world was shaken with the passing of a sports legend, Kobe Bryant. The people who remember him often speak about his as their "friend" during interviews, through tweets, and on talk shows. Maybe it's because I am such a small-circle person that I didn't understand how it was possible to have so many feel like the emotions you offered them were enough to be of "friend" caliber. Rookies in the league, commentators, people from other sports, and people all over referred to Kobe Bryant as their friend. Really? How?

Friend.

What does that word mean?

Not soon after Kobe, Gianna, John, Keri, Alyssa, Sarah, Payton, and Ara were killed in a catastrophic helicopter crash, I got word from a good friend that a math colleague was clinging to life. That man, John Berray, passed away soon after. Friend.

For those of you who knew John, he interacted with you as if your story was more important than his. He inquired about you, wanted to learn more about you, and applauded you for the work that you were doing or the stance that you were taking. He took a walk with you from the Washington, DC convention center to Nationals Park (yeah, it's only a 2.4 mile walk, and the things you can talk about in that time are priceless!). He was a great presenter, yet he always wanted to get your perspective on how he could be better, making it seem like you had something to offer him. He was your biggest cheerleader, supporting you in the risks that you were taking and only offering advice when it was called upon; always giving that extra nudge to do something exceptional. He never published a book (even with having a friend who is a very successful publisher), yet was always interested in yours, excited about its prospects and how it would resonate with people in different areas. Come to think of it, he was who you needed at the time you talked to him, no matter what that was; what a gift to have.

It all makes sense now. Friend.

John Berray wasn't the first guy I would call when I was having a bad day, yet he would be the first guy to greet me at a networking meeting, a conference, or a local gathering with a big smile, arms extended, and a genuine embrace. He would lead a conversation with an insistence on hearing how life was going for me, never putting himself first. And whoa, when you ask about his family, his entire face lit up with pride and joy.

When John entered a room, he made the room better. Not only in the sense of warmth and genuine care, but also in intelligence and wisdom. He would question why things were done out of sincere curiosity, using his cool-yet-calm San Diego cadence to relax the conversation to the point where anyone involved felt like it was a good place to share and be heard.

Over the years, the term friend has evolved for me. John was, is, and always be a friend of mine who inspires me to be a better person, educator, husband, and father. 

If this makes its way to the Berray family, I would hope that you would be affirmed that the man you lent us from time to time had an immeasurable and lasting impact on so many people, and will continue to do so. Thank you.

With that said, I will raise a toast with a Bottle Of Dreams for John and do what I can to carry on the amazing work he has done for our world.

Farewell, Friend.

I haven't blogged in a while for a number of reasons, but this is one I needed to type out to remember. 

Over the past few years, I have been fortunate to work alongside a number of teachers on a variety of 3D Printing projects: keychains, nameplates, irregular dice, objects that would've helped during the Industrial Revolution, and more. Early last fall, Mr. Robinson asked about doing a project with his students, and we landed on the idea of bubble wands. Drawn from the vision of Ashley Toews and Patricia Vandenberg, we created a plan to have students design their own bubble wands in Desmos and Tinkercad. 

Then we thought about it more, and realized that there was so much more potential.

Mr. Robinson, the department chair and Integrated Math 2-Honors teacher at the school, wanted to make it a collaborative project. So, with the approval of our admin and theirs, we met with a neighboring elementary school to talk about the possibility of this being a collaboration with their students. 

I was there as the "expert" in 3D printing, along with Mr. Robinson, and we had a phenomenal discussion with the elementary teaching team regarding what would take place, how the logistics would play out, and more. We agreed that this would be exciting for the kids, but had no idea how it would really play out.

The elementary groups, grades 4 through 6, were partnered up with high school "engineers" who would take their Google Drawings (with geometric figures, as part of their content standards), put them into Desmos, then bring them to life with Tinkercad and the 3D printer. Completed in December, the products were sent to the printer soon thereafter, and the printer stayed busy through the first two weeks of January. 2 models were printed for each group so that they could share, and many were printed in different sizes, just to make it fun.

On the day of, we had nearly 200 elementary students appear in the cafeteria, ready to meet their engineers and learn about the process.

The school's principal, teachers, film crew, and students were all listening intently to the high school engineers as they described their process, some potential design flaws/hurdles that they had to work through, and the final products they had in their hands. 

IT WAS A SUCCESS!!!

From there, we headed outside because, well, you can't just hand a kid a wand​ and say that it works; THEY NEEDED TO EXPERIENCE IT!

Ahead of time, Mr. Robinson created the bubble solution in a 5 gallon bucket. Once the passing period had ended and no more high schoolers were wandering around the quad, I went out to fill tins with the solution and have them ready for the groups.

​The leaders took their groups out to the tins, set them up, and...

Yeah. So. There's that.

The looks on their faces: priceless!

One side benefit that we were hoping for, and got back in spades, was the connection between the elementary and high school students. The high schoolers were prepped with "look, you have to realize that it might be really intimidating for some kids to be on a high school campus." The elementary school kids came in wide-eyed and excited, and there were zero issues. The only problem? How do we keep doing this?!

As we were closing it down for the day, I walked alongside a group and smiled as I heard their interaction:

Elementary Student: "This was so much fun. I can't wait for high school."
High School Student: "Not every day is like this, but I'm sure happy you are here."
ES: "No, that's ok. I just thought it would be scary, but it's not."
HSS: "Keep working hard and you can do some pretty awesome things here."

Y'know, that made my week. A kid who looks forward to what is to come and a kid showing appreciation for what she has, all while encouraging the next wave of world-changers.

Happy "Bubbles" Fishing