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​Letting Go to Create Space for New and Inspired

12/31/2016

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​On this last day of 2016, may we all let go of disappointments and heartbreak, dare to set intentions for 2017 (even though it may seem like we are making some crazy sh*t up), and, act fearlessly upon the exploits, ventures, and undertakings that will move us closer to our goals and satisfy our deepest desires.
 
May it be so …
 
Happy 2017!
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A Safe Space (Place)

12/24/2016

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In a time when many students in traditional school settings do not feel safe, experience severe anxiety, and encounter some form of bullying, what exactly do we mean when we say, “Deep Root Center provides a safe space for all of our student members?” 
 
DRC is built on a solid foundation of respect.  It is, in fact, our only “rule”, which bears repeating here: Respect yourself, each other, and this place.  In this non-coercive, relaxed, and caring environment, we certainly don’t demand respect from each other, and, we will never ask our student members to earn our respect.  It is freely given and received, by everyone, with kindness and trust. 
 
This works because, we welcome each individual, without prejudice, on an equitable playing field, while honoring everyone’s unique talents, skills, as well as their emotional, social, and educational needs. We offer positive feedback, daily, by highlighting particular strengths and praising efforts and achievements, as well as providing encouragement when one of us is struggling. It is our firmly held belief that when human beings are positively and compassionately supported, not degraded or humiliated, they will behave in a manner that is beneficial, not only to themselves, but to the whole. 
 
To be clear, if one of us acts or speaks inappropriately, we (anyone, adults or students) are not afraid to call that person on it.  A simple, “that is not OK”, within the context of a larger non-judgmental and open conversation, in that moment, is usually all that is needed.  Yes, we really are that comfortable with each other, because we recognize that we are all human, we all make mistakes, and we can all make amends. 
 
Every single person at DRC – from the newest member, to the veterans, who have been here for a while – understands that our actions and behaviors directly affect and reflect the health of our community. 
 
At DRC, every interaction, conversation, or verbal exchange gives us all the opportunity to celebrate our differences, and, to model acceptance and empathy. We understand that diversity and open minds (and hearts) are essential to facilitate new ideas, fresh perspectives, and creative ingenuity, which is where (when) inspired visions are born.

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DRC NEWS

 
The DRC staff, board, and student members would like to wish you all a safe, prosperous, restful Holiday Season - Blessed Yule, Happy Hanukah, Merry Christmas … and a Peace-Filled New Year.
 
We will be back in session on Tuesday, January 3rd. 
 

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DRC Member Spotlight --- Oliver

12/18/2016

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Oliver bursts into the Center every day with an impish, devil may care grin and announces, “well, ya know …” his voice fading as he races to the computer in the Seedlings room to log in his twenty minutes of daily allotted MineCraft time.  This particular lead in, along with an eloquent shrug, tipped head, and open handed gesture, precedes Oliver’s many tales. The child has stories tell, some true, most --- not, therefore, it is up to the listener to determine the veracity of each individual account.  Not an easy task, as you are drawn in by his animated, spirited, and mesmerizing gaze to the depths of his ingenuity.
 
Last week, Oliver was sitting on the couch after listening to a storybook and asked me, “what is non-fiction?” He was earnestly trying to understand the difference between real and made-up, because for him all of his narratives are, in some sense, true. His reality is based upon being completely immersed in the fanciful world of the many characters he plays throughout the day with his friend Christian.
 
I first met Oliver this past summer, when he and his parents came to DRC to learn more about our, brand new, Seedlings Program. He was immediately comfortable in the space, and, I was instantly smitten with his openness, intellect, vibrancy, and joyful delight with the world. He exuded confidence and enthusiasm, and, was not afraid to explore the many treasures of Deep Root Center. 
 
His proclamation, “I love art” is an understatement. He adores directing other people (adults and kids) in creating his visions to his specifications. He and Chris, the Seedlings Facilitator, have made multiple cardboard box robots, and, we have sewn (he controls the pedal) a couple stuffed animals together (Carlos the bat and a turtle). Last week we designed and sewed a whole costume – a shirt with a lightning bolt insignia, cape, and hat. This garb transformed him into his Super Villain alter ego – Ghost Boy and later into another persona he and Christian had envisioned.
 
Oliver is another prime example of self-directed learning in action. He is a 6-year-old totally in charge of his learning plan. His “lessons,” centered around imaginary play, are multi-layered, multi-sensorial, multi-modality, and completely inter-disciplinary. Reading readiness is blended with social studies, science, and math; social skills and creativity are woven into every single interaction and conversation throughout the day, and, everything is based on his unrestricted originality.
 
Oliver lives fully with curiosity and intense feeling. He brings no small amount of child-like wonder, fun, and innocence to this place, which infects us all and inspires us to live wholly within each moment in delight and awe.


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 DRC NEWS 
 
The DRC Band -
If you were not able to attend our concert last week --- here is the full video. We are so very proud of our young musicians and their mentors.  Stay tuned as they continue to add new members, build their skill levels, and increase their already impressive repertoire.
 
Fundraising –
Have these DRC member spotlights inspired you? Do you wish DRC had been around when you were struggling through school? Are you committed to providing equitable opportunities for every child in the NoCo?
 
Your financial support of Deep Root Center through the DRC Annual Appeal, the #TwoDegreeChallenge, or a donation to our Silent Auction at the Feel the Heat fundraising dinner during WinterFest, makes all of our work possible. Visit the donation page to make your contribution today. 
 
Schedule -
Deep Root Center follows the public school Holiday Break – we will be back in session January 3rd.
 
If you would like to schedule an appointment to visit and discuss the possibilities for your child – please get in touch – 
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DRC Member Spotlight - Jake

12/15/2016

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“The Maker Space is a mess. Everything is on the tables and we have no room to work. We need to move the shelves with the supplies, because they take up all the work space on that table and it is really wobbly; one of the Seedlings could knock it over easily.” These observation came from Jake, this morning, a couple hours after I walked into the Maker Room and turned back around willing myself not to clean it all up.


Yes, Jake – the kid who invented the infamous Posibot and was considered for the Fallonventions Segment on the Tonight Show last year – otherwise known as the idea guy. His schemes are the soundtrack to our days; Jake (no exaggeration here) talks everything out - thinks out loud. He currently has three or (possibly) four (big) projects all at varying stages of completion right now. However, those were disregarded, again, today as he took on the larger venture of establishing a habitable, organized, and usable space to work.


Jake is one of those people who not only thinks outside the box, he doesn't even realize there is a box in the first place. He often sees the most obvious solutions when the rest of us seem to be working on a completely different problem, because he is so fully open to exploring all of the possibilities.


With that said, when it comes to his own work, Jake is also a perfectionist. He gets frustrated and discouraged when his creations don't turn out exactly as he had envisioned (maybe one of the reasons there a few unfinished pieces of art hanging around).


Jake's fascination with hands-on, creative projects --- from a variety of arts and crafts, photography, writing short stories, building “tiny houses,” to baking and decorating cupcakes informs and binds all the components of his individualized learning plan together. His phone is his research tool, camera, how to manual (for everything), calendar, entertainment, and recipe book, as well as communication device. A world of knowledge quite literally lives in his back pocket and he has the skills to access it all. Anything he can imagine is within reach in seconds.


One of the original three students from last September, Jake is an integral and vital member of the DRC community. He is our official welcomer, spokesperson, and event planner – it is pretty much guaranteed that no holiday will go by unnoticed, unplanned, or uncelebrated at DRC. His genuine warmth is a vibrant beacon that radiates compassion, pure silliness, as well as generosity, and, inspires us all to emulate his example.   

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#TwoDegreeChallenge

12/11/2016

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Do you want to be an advocate for young people in the North Country who are seeking a positive, nurturing, and enriching educational community?

Have the DRC member spotlights inspired you to finds ways to support and promote self-directed learning?

Or, are you working towards a more sustainable life-style? 

The DRC #TwoDegreeChallenge fits the bill on all counts.  
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Donate today!
DRC NEWS
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You can also increase your donation to have a greater impact on the Deep Root Center community, whether it is a larger monthly contribution or a lump sum. 

Thank you!

Save the Date: Feb 16, 2017


Feel The Heat - A Caribbean Inspired Fundraising Dinner and Silent Auction.

We have already received some amazing donations including: a $100.00 GC from Jake's on the Water, two $25.00 GC from Gamer Craze, Pizza Hut Pizzas, an oil change from Munro Mufler, as well as a delightful assortment of locally made arts and crafts. This is just a beginning list. Stay tuned as this list expands; we are anticipating some major donations you will not want to miss.

Tickets for the Event will be available after January 3rd. 

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DRC Member Spotlight --- Takoda

12/8/2016

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by Maria Corse
​
“So, is there anything else you need from me?” is always my last question during a mentoring session, and, the one I asked Takoda today, as my finger hovered over the mouse to click the “meeting finished” tab. He responded in his usually laid back manner, “as a matter of fact, yes, I would like to take a class to learn pyrotechnics.” I think my mouth was hanging open for a few seconds before I replied, “What? Pyrotechnics, what is that?” The only part of the word I really heard was “pyro”, as in fire! Takoda calmly reminded me that it is the art of fireworks and explosives. After the initial shock wore off and I jokingly made sure he understood this would be something he could learn off-site … we began investigating resources.

Takoda is one of those students who is always surprising me. He is quiet and reserved by nature, however, frequently projects moments of pure comic genius. At one point last January, after he had been at Deep Root Center for only a couple of days, we all concluded that we needed to follow him around with a recording device to catch all of the witticisms that regularly tumbled off his tongue.


Takoda is rock steady, dependable, and incredibly patient – he arrives about the same time everyday, takes up residence on one of the chairs in the teen chill space, places earbuds in --- generally ignores the hub-bub around him and carries on with his countless independent studies, games, and compulsive reading. He has a wide variety of interests from the classics (Greek, Roman, and Japanese civilizations), any kind of history, to, well, pyrotechnics, and, he is not afraid to seek out the information he needs to learn more about any subject, or, to share his depths of knowledge with the other students.


Reading is one of Takoda's greatest passions and his appetite for books is unquenchable; he quite literally devours them. He can read a 700 page sci-fi - fantasy tome in a few hours, and, he comprehends every detail --- we know, because, in disbelief, we have quizzed him multiple times.


We are grateful for this gentle giant in our midst, who is amendable to almost anything asked of him, from reaching something on a high shelf, moving a piece of furniture, to taking part in a class. Although, I have been impressed, recently, with his ability to assert himself and say “no” when he feels that agreeing to a request does not match his personal aspirations. This is just one more hallmark of the new maturity that rests comfortably on Takoda's shoulders. He has decided to stay with us for another school year, instead of finishing High School early, and, I am honored to have the privilege of watching him grow and flourish towards the bright future that surely awaits --- whether it is a career in blowing things up, writing books, or continuing his studies of history and the classics.

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DRC Member Spotlight - Christian

12/6/2016

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by Maria Corse

“Sometimes I am made of metal and sometimes I am made of smoke.” A direct quote, taken seconds ago, from one of the coolest kids I have ever met, while he was acting out his latest imaginative game with his friend Oliver. Christian literally spends his days at Deep Root Center totally engaged in creating the fantastical world he has envisioned in that moment. Somedays he is a super villain, a Pokemon, or the owner of a video arcade, and others he is a character from a scary show that he has conceived.


Christian spends hours building 3D props and writing stories that are more like scripts for the constantly running dialog for all of his imaginary scenarios. He hates to remove any of his “sets” from the Center. Hence, we currently have an extensive variety of video arcade games made from cardboard boxes under one table, a window (theater) laying on the art table, and a variety of assorted pieces on another shelf.


When I first met Christian as a seven year old, in August 2015, he told me that he did not like to read and that he did not want to draw, because he was a “bad artist”. I celebrated, months later, when he drew a picture for the first time. He still refuses to participate in any “classes” and usually says, “no” to every single suggestion presented to him. If anything smacks of being traditional or formal, he automatically refuses to get involved. Everything has to be his original idea to be considered valid.


Christian has an interesting relationship with math. He refuses to sit and work on a math sheet, yet, I am pretty sure he has figured out some pretty advanced conceptual stuff by exploring and playing with a calculator on his own. One day, he tried to interpret the problem he had drawn out and was working on, but I didn't understand.


His ingenuity, kindness, compassion, and independence are the hallmarks of Deep Root Center philosophy. He is learning to read and write, because his personal goal is to emulate R.L. Stein, his favorite author, by writing books and the scripts for his TV shows, as well as directing, and acting in them. His dad told me that he watches, actually studies, the GooseBumps show at home, rewinding it often to analyze how a particular scene was filmed.


Christian is a master showman (ringmaster) who ensures that DRC has our own, personal, on site, performance troupe. His sense of humor is subtle and sly, but wickedly funny, and, he moves from one character to the next with the ease and impeccable timing of a vaudeville veteran. To say Christian carries the show is a huge understatement, we all understand that he is the producer, director, as well as the star, who generously shares the spotlight with his friends.


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DRC Member Spotlight: Leillah

12/4/2016

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by Maria Corse


“So, I have this awesome idea,” were the first words out of Leillah's mouth as she bounced into the office for her latest weekly mentoring session. “Yeah, so what's new,” I thought to myself with an inner smile, as I opened her DRC online portfolio mentoring page and clicked the start meeting tab. When she saw I was ready, she stopped dancing around in the chair and hit me with her latest, “I want to open a Maker Space, because I want to spend my time doing exactly what I am doing now --- using my talents to create stuff.” We proceeded to spend the next thirty minutes excitedly discussing details, along with a concrete plan of action. We got so carried away that I forgot to type notes into her mentoring form and we then had to go back to recreate the conversation.


Leillah will spend the next couple months researching other Maker Spaces around the country to get additional ideas. She will contact the county planner to investigate the ReUse Center that has been proposed for St Lawrence County to see if there is any overlap opportunities available and she has to decide whether this will be a for profit or not-for-profit business. We concluded that January would be a good time for the two of us to schedule a meeting with someone from the Small Business Development Center at SUNY Canton to devise a business plan.


Leillah already has a solid sense of what this business will look like. She wants a place where people can either pay a monthly membership fee or a one time rate to use the tools, equipment, and resources to produce their own stuff. She wants to have classes available and a storefront to sell her own works as well as the products of her clientele. She also envisions sporting the same vividly colored, comfortable, and unconventional wardrobe she wears now. Leillah is finishing her high school career in three years, will take a gap year, and, is considering taking college classes in art and business, because she feels those will be helpful in establishing the Maker Space. It is not surprising, knowing Leillah, that she has such a clearly defined goal.


I was impressed with Leillah from the minute I met her, in July 2015, when she and her mom came to DRC looking for help with all the homeschool logistics. She had just completed her freshman year at Canton Central, and, after struggling through her years of traditional school, knew that she was not going back. Leillah has the distinction of being the first DRC student member of the 15/16 academic year and I knew immediately that she would be an integral part of the DRC community. She was poised, mature, articulate, motivated, expressive, clearly talented, and not afraid to voice her opinions or interests during that first meeting.


Leilah devoted last fall to exploring her fascination with forensics (due in large part, I believe, to watching Grey's Anatomy) and was able to spend time in the Physical Anthro Lab at SUNY Potsdam with Dr Malit and his intern. Her passion for horses and riding led to an internship at a local horse farm during the winter and spring. She was convinced that she would own a riding stable, train horses, and offer lessons as an adult. Leillah spent the whole summer engaged in all of that, as an intern, at the Sand Hill Stable in St Regis Falls and discovered that, yes, she does love horses and wants to own them someday, however, that is probably not what she wants to do as a career.


This fall, Leillah rediscovered her enthusiasm for artistic expression and has devoted hours to producing crafts, drawings, paintings, and, this last few weeks, designing and painting murals. Her fondness for brightly intense color and intricate patterns is a constant that is woven, not only through her art, but throughout her entire life. I am so very proud of her intellect, ideas, openness, pure wackiness, and her willingness to embrace her own unique brand of weirdness (her word), which is utterly refreshing and frankly contagious. My day is made even more complete, to be totally honest, when I hear those seven little words, “Hey Maria, I have an awesome idea!” Leillah is, indeed, a daily inspiration and we love her dearly.

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DRC NEWS

Deep Root Center is seeking other brightly shining super stars who will thrive in our supportive, safe, and caring environment. Contact us now, if you want to be part of an educational community that flaunts its flexibility, advocacy, and enthusiasm, where kids are encouraged to explore their current interests, discover new ones, and present ideas that will be taken seriously. We are here to listen to your story and help you implement your visions today.

Annual Appeal
Your contributions make all of this possible. Thank you!

DRC Concert
Join us at the Canton Free Library Thursday, December 15th at 1pm for an eclectic blend of rock, folk, Irish traditional, and original music performed by our very own DRC students and friends. This is a free program (donations gladly accepted) and everyone is welcome (bring a friend or two). Be prepared to be impressed. These guys are good!

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Save the Date - Feb 16
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​Feel the Heat – A Caribbean Inspired Fundraising Dinner and Silent Auction
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Deep Root Center
48 Riverside Drive, Canton, NY 13617

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