I've been asked several times lately,"Where is all this going?" The "this" being the WARHORSE, the soaps, the biodiesel school project, the company. What's the next steps? I don't know where it's going, and I'm not going to worry or fret about it. This all happened as an experiment of sorts, with the help and inspiration of some VERY YOUNG people--my students and ex students--all under the age of 22. Five years ago I had no expectations other than taking my senior English student Elizabeth's senior graduation project and exploring it myself--recycling soybean oil to biofuel. (WLOS Channel 13 news)
Liz and her uncle Bob making a one liter sample of biofuel. Liz is still
working with our project, years later.
Channel 7 story
Now it's biofuel byproducts to soaps, to biofuel school projects, to backyard hobby to little be kind solutions company, to maybe working with some local oldies and some ex students for my WARHORSE team--a young WARHORSE in Savannah, several in Asheville, one in Greenville at the Dark Corner Distillery, several energetic WARHORSEs here locally (Down the road, maybe I can hire Clayton Carey, who plans to graduate from NC State in chemical engineering, maybe an internship at least. Clayton became interested in this journey while experimenting with biofuel in his AP Chem class last year at our high school). Don't know for sure what comes next, but I do know my motivation comes from my students and my teaching. Here's a few pics of some motivated students, including our bio visit to Appalachian State for some collaboration.
RS Central senior made oil run and preparing to load processor. Titration and testing.
Visited Appalachian State on a fact-finding mission to gather info and support for our PCHS Collaborative Green Project
PCHS will soon be offering an accredited science course
in biofuel chemistry. The innovation engine is churning.
Heck, everybody and their brother makes a soap, a cleaner, a body wash. But not like mine. It's different because it comes from a different place of origin--no business plan, no marketing plan, no goals other than to experiment, to get out of the English box and into a dirty, innovative, exciting project, and to bring some students along for the ride. Maybe soon I'll have to get more formal with all this, but right now I'm still experimenting, exploring--research and development.
Even now, with sales and customers growing a little, it ain't just all about the soap, the biodiesel, the unusual sustainable process, or the growth of Be Kind Solutions. That all has just been a manifestation of the impact of my students, my desire to "walk the walk," to show them learning and experimentation can be dirty, chaotic, scary, dynamic, defeating, and inspiring. It's about how my students have inspired me. I owe them an example of the entrepreneurial spirit; of the fear of immigrating into a new world--aging English teacher to biofuel chemistry, to glycerin and soap chemistry; to learning from my own teacher, Bob Russell (above with Elizabeth); to failing and looking for another way, to being the solution to a problem, to working hard, to moving forward, to getting dirty.
Our country needs WARHORSES!
Some of my students and I admire these guys. Many days before we dive into rhetorical analysis, we take a hit of Dustin Carter, or someone like him, to remind us we have no excuse for negativity, for laziness, for defeatism. Mike Rowe weaves a narrative about work ethic and the value of skilled labor. Watch his 20 minute reflective analysis on what has happened to our work ethic--I agree with him wholeheartedly--work has become a dirty word--indeed, we have waged a cold war against "work." I especially like the talk at time 15:15 because Mike nails what I believe is the root problem that America has created. Hit the links below for some inspiration. My students and I do it just about every day.
I, along with our teachers and some students, had the chance to listen to Dr. DeSimone speak about our country's need for innovation, risk-taking, work ethic, and collaboration. I had the chance to speak with him.
Dr. DeSimone, if you remember what you told me, I'm at the point where I need the help you offered. To use your words, "We need risk-takers, people ready to jump, and institutions with resources should be willing to help." I've jumped. Our Burroughs Wellcome science grants require collaboration and letters of support for our plans to build an eco complex, biofuel processor, innovative tech lab on our high school campus. Your support and vitae would be valuable. bekindsolutions.com if you want more info. Did you get my previous 3 emails?
Joseph DeSimone Chancellor’s Eminent Professor of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Chemical Engineering at North Carolina State University.Cancer Research. Maybe the next recipient of the Nobel Prize for Medicine
Dustin Carter goes to state
Will Smith and his ridiculous work ethic
Mike Rowe talks to Congress about need for skilled laborThese people are tireless WARHORSES, and they inspire me and my students.
I owe my students more than a stagnant, stale, bitter, disconnected teacher who, just like many of them, dreads Mondays, dreads the predictable rows of desks, dreads the drone of my voice. I owe them more than a dead, dispassionate, apathetic teacher who thinks the world has gone to hell in a hand basket, that teenagers are hopeless. I could easily slip into apathy, into 50% mode, of busy work mode and into "I need a vacation mode," of "If I can just hang on until retirement."
I owe them more than metaphors, literary criticism, Shakespeare. I owe them more than the skill to produce a tightly constructed complex sentence. I owe them more than lectures about how they should all go to a 4 year college. Somebody, take me out if I ever get to this. Put me out of my misery, so I don't spread it to my students, like an invisible but insidious virus.
Someone could ask one of my former students who just got a new job at the local Ingles grocery store, "Girl, where did you get this negative attitude and pitiful work ethic?" My ex-student could say," "Oh, that? I got if from my 9th grade English teacher, Mrs. Weicker. I did spend over 135 hours with her, over 8,100 minutes, so she did have a big influence me, I guess. Then double that when I had her again as a senior. Wow, I spent more time with her than I did my parents."
Ah yes, teacher and student alike, "It's almost Friday, thank God it's Friday, Wish it were Friday. I'm bored."
This biofuel-soap-school-company journey has saved me from myself, saved me from the grumpy English teacher I could still become. No way, no going back now.
I truly feel sorry for our young people because the future is so tough--college grads can't find jobs, families lose incomes, gas prices rise, war looms steadily, drug use, national debt, health care.... Whew, what's a teenager to do? Suck it up, as I might say? Hard to do without some strong work ethic, fortitude, resilience, tenacity. And it takes practice, experiences, failure, suffering, confidence, rigor, high expectations, praise, tough love to get these.
The WARHORSE (never seen the movie but my WARHORSE might share the same heart and drive) was born from my sea of students, out of their hope, out of their fearsome futures. If we, the older generations, ever say, "Kids these days, no work ethic, no dreams, no responsibility," we made them who they are. Our "culture" shaped them. If we want to say our young people have no work ethic, no initiative, no accountability, maybe many of us didn't create the opportunities for them to grow and develop one. Maybe we don't have them either. Maybe we're just chillin', coastin', sleepin', ZZZZzzzzn', stonin', zonin'. Somebody had to create the monter..it takes a village, remember. Enabling? Been there done this myself.
Teenagers, or any of us for that matter, can't just go get a work ethic.
"Check, got the work ethic, I'm ready to face this tough world now." Not how it works, is it?
Here's some examples of work ethic and accountability killers--from the older, wiser generations. Actions most often speak louder than words, and we're supposed to provide the opportunity for these youngsters to learn responsibility. BTW, I'm dropping the quotation marks because I don't feel like using them.
1-God, I'm glad it's Friday
2-Everybody gets a trophy, even if for whining, missing practices, and refusing to pass the ball to teammates.
3-Money = success and happiness
4-I hate Mondays!
5- I want a job where I work less.
6-Pay for it later. Where's the credit card?
7-Where's the Roundup, I'm not pulling the weeds.
8-You're going to community college?
9-You want to be a mechanic? Really? That's it? C'mon.
10- I think I'm going to have a headache, I'm calling in sick.
11-My kid deserves another free pass (and another, and another).
12- Here's your cell phone upgrade and a texting package, little Tommy. Just don't use it in math class dear because it's not your strongest subject.
13-Don't do as I do, do as I say
14-I just can't function today, my boyfriend has been a jerk for the last 5 years
15-lots of reality television, I Wanna Be a Rockstar
16-machines do most of the work for us
17-Here's your new smart phone upgrade, little Tommy. And don't lose it like your Ipod.
18-That coach is going to hear from me, my kid needs more playing time.
19-Just quit if you don't like it.
20-I hate my job.
I never allow myself to say "Thank God it's Friday." There's a few times where I thought my Fridays, any next day, might not arrive. I like Mondays, Monday mornings facing my students who often dread, cringe from semicolons, who fade from the essay instructions, who languish in the boxes of block walls, hard desks, and hospital grey walls. Really, can you blame them? Plus, look what our culture may have shown them, what we have shown them, what we have done.
My mother, father, grandparents all had a strong work ethic--it's called survival of the fittest, don't work don't eat. I have had a lifetime to develop mine--big gardens, carrying wood, chores, chores, no money for college. My husband Carl inherited his oil rig work ethic from his German immigrant great grandparents who struggled to survive on the South Side of Chicago. Regardless of success or money, all the Weicker kids did physical labor. There's value in carrying heavy concrete forms, trudging through mud, smashing your finger with a hammer and still working on, pushing oneself past the point of fatigue, past the point of frustration. There's value in a day's hard labor. Honesty and work ethic are values that all employers want, but have to look for in their applicants. Who can I trust to do the job? Who will do the right thing? Who can pass a drug test? Who won't whine? Who treats others with respect?
The WARHORSE is my daily reminder that I owe my students the chance to develop a work ethic, to test themselves, to feel some academic growing pains, to laugh a little, to be a leader, to be a team player. My WARHORSE says Man UP, Woman UP, Don't be afraid to fail, I love Mondays, No we're not watching a movie because it's Friday, C'mon, Nobody falls behind, Will Smith, Mike Rowe, Dustin Carter, DeSimone. You're either part of the problem or part of the solution. The WARHORSE is talking to me, by the way. This is my mantra. Actions speak louder than words.
Back to the question, where's the WARHORSE going?
Maybe this blog article helped me discover my goals--grow Warhorse with some of my former students--a WARHORSE team. Maybe I can offer them a place to discover, fine-tune, practice their skills on the way to their dreams. Or, maybe the WARHORSE stays in my backyard, and gallops on over to my classroom and school, on every Great Monday and every Good Friday, just like it has been for the past 5 years. Either journey is still a pretty interesting ride.
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