OK, so the intent was to blog every day, but that was clearly an unrealistic goal.  I got caught up in the day to day busyness of our time in Waterloo and reading the students reflections on their own blogs.  This post is more about final reflections on the trip and the students themselves with some more photos from the trip.
I have to say that this was one of the most enjoyable year-end Fusion trips to date, at least for me.  This group of students is the most positive and curious groups that we have had yet.  Fusion, and especially the year-end trip can be hard in terms of engaging 100% of the students 100% of the time.  Each student joins the cohort for different reasons, has different interests, and wants something different from their experience.  When one student is deep into 3D printing technologies, another might be more interested chemistry and work in material science.  Yet another is taking Fusion because they recognize that there is something in the STEM fields that is of interest to them, but they don't have a clue what that is.  Each and every activity we do in the year has the potential to excite and bore different students at different times.  The boys in this year's Fusion cohort are, as a group, curious enough about everything that they engage with every activity with a positive attitude and a willingness to explore how the idea being presented might apply to their interests and passions.
This group also fully embraces the idea of iterating, especially when it comes to the design of the Fusion cohort itself.  I have rarely had as many insightful conversations with students about how Fusion could further be improved, conversations that start with "What if?" and "How might we?"  I truly get the sense that this group not only enjoyed their time in Fusion, but are invested in making the cohort even better for future students.  For this, I am very grateful.
While the year is not yet done, we are certainly down to the home stretch.  Watch the student blogs for their final posts and a reworking of their space to develop a full portfolio of their learning for the year.