Weekly Wrap Up 6/19/20-- Virtual Camp and Protest March

 MarioFan participated in a virtual camp this past week.  All summer camps in our areas have been cancelled so they are trying to do things online.  This camp was to visit various jobs in the area and see what kind of education and experience is needed to be a candidate for employment.  Since MarioFan tends to gear more towards STEM so the companies he saw for this week included:

They delivered a backpack filled with all the things they would be using during the week.  Some jobs had activities the kids would be doing while exploring and learning about the job site.  In addition some jobs sent swag for the kids to have from the jobs. 

Seeing all the camp participates online and having a discussion

The last job site they visited was Riot games a local video game developer.  So they worked on writing a script and playing a game.

MarioFan had fun so I decided to sign him up for the next job week in July which is also online and they have lined up all new job sites for the participates to explore.  This camp also kept the parents informed and had several zoom meetings that parents could attend to understand what the kids were learning.  I was quite impressed!

It was been a wild year and the events of the past few weeks have come to our area.  We had some mild rioting but most of the protests were peaceful.  My daughter, Firedrake, very much wanted to participate in the protests.  However due to the virus we wouldn't allow her to go to the larger marches held in the city.  

Last week we heard that a local group of teenagers with the school district's support was trying to organize a local protest.  Since our town is small I agree to take my daughter so long as she follow the social distancing rules and wore a mask the entire time.  

My daughter painting up her signs the night before

She wasn't sure which one she wanted to use so she did two!

My sign

 There was a lot of backlash on the local community page and I was a little worried that there might be some counter protests.  I was very impressed with how the students handled the adults who were absolutely rude to them and their cause. 

The teenagers had planned the route with our local police and the town Mayor. 

This young lady will be a leader one day.  So impressed with her speech and how she conducted herself against the horrendous backlash she had on the local community page.

The town Mayor gave a speech and i was so impressed with how many people turned out to walk.  I honestly didn't think it would be many.  My daughter and I are happy to see their are more people in the community who support the cause than raged against it.

This speaker is raising a biracial son and she is reading his facebook post on what it was like growing up in this community.  I am so sad to hear he has had to deal with racism in my community. 

We walked approx 1.5 miles with some police officers joining us in addition to blocking off roads for us to walk.  It was quite stiffling to walk with a mask on as the temperature was in the high 90's

Someone was able to capture an overhead picture of the protesters walking.

After the walk we kneeled for 9 minutes and then peacefully dispersed.

there was no organized counter protest but we did see a few people walking with blue lives matter flags and while most of the cars who passed us honked in support, there was one that yelled obscenities at the protesters. 

I am very proud of my town, considering we live in a very RED district.  to see this many people come out was very surprising.  My sister is a police officer and I don't lump all police into one group.  I do believe change needs to happen so black men and women are no longer being targeted by police.  

I am also very proud of my daughter for being so socially active in her causes.  She will help change the world one day!