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Would you like to see a beautiful state? Would you like to play on a sandy beach, and watch a spectacular sunrise? If you do, than why don't you come to Wisconsin?

In Wisconsin, there are no mountains, and they have beautiful grass, and trees. The most common trees are the sugar maple. In Wisconsin, water has cut a channel that is 15 miles long through rock and has created unusual rock formations. There are approximately 15,000 lakes in Wisconsin. Glaciers in the last ice age formed most lakes in Wisconsin. The lakes are very beautiful. One lake for example is Lake Michigan. Also, they have the second and third largest rivers in the world.

When you go to Wisconsin, I know you would want to go fishing. I know they have beautiful fish. You would want to walk on the sandy beaches, watch the waves, and play sports on the sand all day. Also, you can have a romantic breakfast, and watch the spectacular sunrise.

When you are there, you might see monuments of some famous people like Golda Meir and Eric Heiden. Golda Meir was the prime minister of Israel. Eric Heiden was a speed skater. You might want to see the capital of Wisconsin. The capitol building is in Madison City. Going to a museum like the State Historical Museum would be an exciting adventure.
So why don't you come and visit Wisconsin. See the beautiful sunrises, the enchanting people, and the amazing beauty to behold. You will not be disappointed.

Dear Members of the Board,
Our schools are facing a hard time with a proposition proposing budget cuts. There are lots of thing that I wish didn’t have to go away. But one of the main things is Scicon.
Scicon gave me, and many others I know, including my friends, an incredible experience that we - otherwise, could not have obtained.
Since we stayed there for one week, we had to sleep in cabins. While being in the cabins, we learned a few things. We met new people, and became friends. Which was made easier because we did many cabin activities and collaborations. One example of how we worked together was the cabin point system the people at Scicon used. It encouraged punctuality, and quality, which allowed a fun, light, competitiveness to take place between each cabin.
The John Muir Lodge was an important part of Scicon for me. While we were there not only did we eat tasty food and get nourished, but that was while we made more new friends, learned table manners, and interacted with each other. While we ate, we thought about a quote that was read to us, and tried to come up with the answer together. If our table was chosen as the winner for that meal, we received a big piece of quartz for display. Also, each cabin had the chance of going to the kitchen after any meal, and help with whatever needed help getting done. Having had that experience really made me appreciate what our cafeteria staff does for us every day.
Although the Lodge was very nice, I think one of the places we learned most at Scicon, was on our trails. Many of the things we experienced there cannot be reproduced, or taught as well here. To make my point, our teacher the other day said he did not want animal scat or tracks in his classroom. And that was something that we saw a lot of up in the mountains. We learned about different types of animals and learned to identify them through scat and tracks. A few times when we were lucky enough, we even saw the animal that made the tracks or other animals. Another thing was, we were able to see a real bear’s den, and touch real bear fur! On a different trail, we learned about, and saw many different types of birds. One of the birds my classmate saw was classified as unknown in the bird guide! One thing that I saw was a very special and rare form of mushroom. Our guide said we would probably never see that type of mushroom in our lives again! The most beautiful trail in my opinion was the Tree Nursery trail. Once we got there, we were put to work trying to take care of Mother Earth. Rocks are a big part of our standards in sixth grade and the good news is that we learned about them a good deal at Scicon, but one of the coolest things dealing with rocks over there was seeing fluorescent rocks at the museum. Another cool thing was that if you went on the trail to the quartz mine you had the opportunity to some find some quartz and take it home. We talked a Scicon about a new word every day. It was our job to ask our guide about it and what it meant. One day, the word was cycles. That day on our trails, that was what we talked about. On another day the word was recycling. Recycling is a big issue nowadays and on one of the trails, we talked about trying to make a difference to keep our earth healthy and clean for many years to come. We all had fun, and learned a lot about many things. But in my opinion, one of the most informational trails was the one to the museum. It was at the museum that we touched the fur and it was at the museum that we saw the fluorescent rocks. It wasn’t just that. The museum had lots to offer us. Many different types of rocks were there, a hissing cockroach, two different types of snakes (which we had the choice of holding), a look at many different types of owls, an unbelievable chart showing what types of rocks are found in toothpaste, acrylic nail polish and more. The museum was very, very informative. A cool thing about the trails was that even more new friends were met because it was another group and we got a lot of physical activity hiking, and if a person did not have much endurance walking, they gained some while being there.
At Scicon we had the chance to choose which trail, we went on last. The good thing was that we learned new things no matter which trail we went on. A few of the trails were:

Sky Trail and Eagle’s Point: which were good for exercise and physical activity (also for knowing how hard climbing a mountain can be)
Native American Trail: where we learned about the Indians who lived in that area
Quartz Mine: learned about rocks and how they were made
Dead Man’s Falls: offered a chance to go on an adventure
Museum: learn anything you want about the many things covered there
Tree Nursery: learned how to take care of Mother Earth
Recycling: learned about recycling and made new picture frames out of old unneeded things
Thank you very much for taking the time to read this. I hope it will help you see that Scicon cannot go away. Let’s work together for a better education.

Scicon
Stands for Super-Creative-Incredible-Cool-Original-Natural

Dear Board Members,
I really enjoyed Scicon; it was a wonderful experience.

Scicon teaches kids so many things. How to spot a poisonous salamander. How use table manners, where you can find water by types of trees. You learn so many things everyday, by your trails and how to appreciate whatever nature gives us.

Trails are probably for me the funnest activity of the day, I learned how to plant an oak tree in the Tree Nursery. It was great to sing songs on the trails.

The food was way better than school lunches. I wished I could trade the cooks from Scicon to our school because they make awesome food. I loved their chicken nuggets and French toast.

The cabins were really comfortable, and warm. I loved the names, I was in the cabin named Dinuba it was almost the best.
I am hoping that you will keep Scicon as a trip, because, think about how many kids you will be letting down. Let’s work together as a school and raise money for next years sixth graders that go to J.F.K.

Love,
A sixth grade student that wants to help

Saving Scicon
Dear Board Members,

Please allow other students to go to Scicon; it’s a great expierence for other students to socialize with students that are there.
The cabins are also fun; I mean how many people get to spend a whole week in a cabin with their friends. The cabins are warm, safe, and fun. The Lodge is a place where you can learn table manners that will come in handy as time goes by. The meals are magnificent. The Scicon meals are way better if I do say so myself. Scicon was awesome!
The activities were fun such as, these we play in the lodge, scavenger hunt, and dancing as well as the show staring the Hermit. The games aren’t just games you can play at home because they tell a story behind Scicon or how things are made or grow. I liked learning about Scicon.
The trails were great it’s a fun way to get your exercise and lean about wildlife. You get to animals and scat (poop). Your elective trail is the best; you get to choose from Sky Trail, Dead Mans Fall, Quartz Mine and other fun trails there is also activities. I went on Sky Trail it’s five miles up and down.
A way we could help keep Scicon going is fundraisers, donations and selling more things at school to keep Scicon going. I bet some of you Board Members went to Scicon and I bet I was the week of your 6th grade year just like mine. So please save Scicon going.

Dear Board members,
Please don’t take this exciting experience away from next year’s sixth graders!
A wonderful experience at Scicon was the John Muir lodge. They taught us a lot of table manners. For example, they taught us to not put our elbows on the table. They also taught us to work together. Like sometimes they made a cabin set up the tables or to wash dishes. We also met new people, which helped us with our friendships. We also had a LOT of fun.
The trails were both exciting and educational. On the trails, we learned things that we could not have learned here in school. For example, we learned how to identify the scat of many different animals. We also learned how to identify different kinds of rocks by looking at them. One of the trails was the Birding Trail. One JFK student, commented on it “The Birding trail was so incredible that I asked many questions about the types of birds you can see in Scicon. We even saw a bird that was unnamable. THAT was a cool experience.”
The elective trails were the best thing! Another student commented on Sky Trail, “Sky Trail was an incredible trail that was five miles long, and had an amazing view on the way, when we arrived, we shouted over to the people on the Eagle’s Point trail, and the people who stayed at Scicon.” There are many other elective trails like, the Native American trail, Eagle’s Point, Dead Man’s fall, and Quart’s Mine. Those are only a few of the many trails.
PLEASE! Don’t take away this great educational experience away from next year’s JFK students! Thank you for your time.

SCICON Trip
Dear D.U.S.D Board members,

I’m writing this letter in regard of not letting of not allowing the class of 2008-2009 to go to Scicon

First, I would have to say that at Scicon cabins play a big role. When we’re in the cabins, we get to meet new people and we learn to get along. We also work on our social skills. For example, when we get back to our cabins, we discuss how our day went.
In addition, Trails are the biggest learning tool of all. Trails provide the natural outdoors that we obviously can’t bring into the classroom. At the same time we’re learning, we are also exercising. When we are hiking we learn how to work together if someone is struggling.

Finally, I know that you’re trying to save money but I have the solution. Fundraisers are only one of many ideas. The real solution is to come together as one community and do every thing we can in our power to save Scicon. All in all, the education of the 2008-2009 class can be saved if we all come together.

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