Welcome

My name is Kristine Tirone. My goal is to do something I never thought I'd be able to do. Meaning, I never thought I'd even get close to having the opportunity to leave the country, or be involved with a class in this way. Setting standards for myself and working towards something is a new thing for me. I'm writing this blog to raise money to send my class to Costa Rica. Our class, as a whole, is trying to fundraise over $15,000. This will fund everything from our food, a place to stay, to our flight.

I'm getting a new understanding of what it's like to deserve what you work for. Before, I would sit back and let everyone do the work and I would take the credit. My personal struggles got in the way of my everyday functioning. My focus on education was lost to my other struggles. Not only was I not understanding the work, but I had an increasingly low work ethic. This all started to change over the summer of 2010. Bryan, my teacher, makes it known that he has an extremely low tolerance for slackers. I didn't want to disappoint him, and this motivation was new to me.

I realize as my interactions with people started to change, I started to as well. Bryan always expected nothing but good things from me, and I've given him nothing but that. I suppose if you feel a certain way or act a certain way, you become a certain way. From there it's history, ever since I've excelled in my school work and always do what I say I will. You're only as good as your word.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Dear Santa,




All I want for Christmas is to go to Costa Rica! Over all as a class we have raised $13,650 towards our goal of $15,000. All that we need is 40 gifts of $40. We're hoping to end the year with all the financial matters taken care of. From raking alone our class has raised $3,800, and just recently we have received a grant worth $2,000. We are doing great but with your help we can get everything on our christmas lists! (Except mabey a monkey!)

PLEASE BE A SECRET SANTA AND HELP THE ROBERT J LISTER COSTA RICA CLASS!




Tuesday, December 14, 2010

MONEYS!



Chapter 10 of "Walking with Wolf," talks alot about the different species of animals. In the Costa Rica Class theres kind of a joke with the monkeys and me. I tell everyone that once we get there I'm going on a hunt to find the cutest monkey and have it as a pet! Bryan especially tells me that , that will not happen. My class mates just let me dream.



There are four different species of monkeys in Costa Rica. The White Faced Capuchin, Howler, the Squirrel Monkey, and the Spider monkey. The monkey in this picture is a White Faced Capuchin or the (mono carablanca.) All the monkeys co- exsist with each other, and rely heavily on fruit.

The Spider monkeys are very active thoughout the day. They jump from tree to tree, and are scattered throughout the rain forrest. The Howler monkey loves to lay up in the trees and soak up the sun, they eat leaves, and all types of fruit. Howlers are called "howlers" because of the sounds that the adult males make.They howl when the troops postison is changing. White Faced Capuchin monkeys rely on fruit but heavily on insects. Some of there favorites are frogs, birds, and lizards.
Im so excited to go to Costa Rica I probably sound like a broken record. I want to climb the trees with the monkeys and live freely, Costa Rica seems like the perfect place to do that. We have made it to $11,650 and still have a few thousand to go. If you'd like to help you can check out our websites. Youtube , Blogger , and Paypal .

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

8th Block

Today in eight block was very chaotic at first. We were all arguing about absolutely nothing, Byran of course wanted to process things. He brought each of us up and helped bring us back to being team mates. His words were very powerful to me. Byran reminded us all of the personal growth we have gained, and how proud of ourselves we should be. After giving most of the kids in my class an example he gave me mine. He reminded me of when I had a school meeting to continue going to Lister. People from my old school were at the meeting and old principals , and new principals, as well as my old case manager from Sanborn was there. When Byran had told her how well I was doing she almost second looked at me to make sure I was the same person. He asked me to think of my old case manager, and asked me to think if she would believe all of the work I have done. I started crying immediately. I was crying because I was so proud of myself. My entire class just looked at me, and I think they understood. That was the most rewarding, and powerful thing that has happened during this whole experience for me. Bryan told me in the very beginning that he thought the class would help us grow and learn from things that regular classes couldn't give to us. Bryan was correct.