I am not a surfer.
I love the ocean. I love Santa Cruz.
Our upper grades rotate students so they name the groups of students by colleges. Most of our students come from families that didn’t attend college. I want them to think of college as a wonderful place. Growing up, I knew I would go to college. My parents hadn’t graduated from college but they made it clear I would. It was something I always looked forward to. I want that for my students.
I went to the University of California Santa Cruz so my homeroom students will be the Banana Slugs. I know it’s not the most glorious of mascots, but I love it. I’ll convince them to love it too.
Santa Cruz is so much more than banana slugs, which brings me back to surfing. When I was little, my aunt and uncle lived on West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz and we would walk to the lighthouse and watch the surfers and listen to the seal lions bark and the waves crash. It was my favorite place.
I woke up this morning and decide to practice making things on PowerPoint by making some beach subway art. I was brainstorming and couldn’t remember the name of those boards that you throw on the sand where the waves crash and jump on and slide. (I still can’t.) While being distracted by the internet I came across this video by O’Neil that I thought would be a fun way to get my students excited about being named after Santa Cruz. I thought I’d share.
I love how this talks about innovation. We have a time we call BEST where we focus on character and ethics. I thought this video could spark a discussion about passion leading to innovation.
Okay, I AM a surfer and I love this video, thanks for sharing:) I too love Santa Cruz. I used to spend hours on the beach watching my hubby surf, thinking it was the most amazing thing, but the water was too cold for me there!
Okay I am officially stalking you, lol!
Aloha,
Corinna
Surfin' Through Second
Santa Cruz was my favorite place in the world until we went to Hawaii. Being in that warm water made the water here seem even colder. Snorkeling in Maui is my mental happy place now. Something about floating in warm water with fish swimming by is the ultimate form of relaxing. Listening to the crashing waves in Santa Cruz is a close second. The stalking is mutual! 🙂
Have you seen the documentary Riding Giants? I think most of it is kid safe, but you'd have to watch it yourself (I teach high schoolers, so my kid safe perception might be skewed). It's an amazing look at surfing all over the world, the history of surfing, but particularly those incredibly daring people who find the biggest of the big waves. It's produced by Stacy Peralta (of Z-Boys fame) and features Laird Hamilton, the current king of the giant surf riders, and Kelly Slater (hubba hubba). IMDB says it has "brief strong language" and has it rated PG-13. You might be able to show only clips. But it's pretty amazing.
I'll have to check it out. We have to have signed permission slips to show PG movies and we're not allowed to show PG-13 at all. BUT, I think we could show clips if it is appropriate. Thanks for the tip!