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#Post#: 7434--------------------------------------------------
Ethan Sheridan Wells
By: Jack Date: July 21, 2018, 7:04 am
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It was kind of shocking for me to realize that I'd never started
a new bio for Ethan. After I thought about it a bit, I realized
it probably wasn't really that surprising.
While Ethan got into his fair share of trouble - and maybe a
little more - when he was younger, he's never been a bad or
troubled kid. As he's gotten older, he's remained a bit geeky.
He reads comics, likes sci-fi and fantasy, does role playing,
collectible card games, and still plays Heroclix and the
variations on that game. He's also big into robotics, which is
his intended major in college. His closest friends (his brother
Parker, Connor Joyce, Jake Ames, and Mike Reasoner) are all into
pretty much the same things with enough variation in interest
levels to keep the group interesting. The only one of Ethan's
close friends who's not heavily into all those things - Bruce
Joyner - still shares a lot of them, and he and Ethan have been
friends since Ethan changed to go to school from my house,
nearly 7 years ago now.
So yeah, it's no big surprise that he doesn't show up often
enough to demand I start a bio for him. That's especially true
since he's so helpful, and he tends to be mentioned in other
posts a lot, so I probably feel like I'm keeping up to date on
his activities.
In this case, there was something specific that I thought had to
be mentioned.
Somehow, Ethan managed to mark that his college orientation was
in July, not August. Because of that, he decided to stay home
from summer camp this year, so he could spend more time with his
friends. While his brothers were gone to camp, he had some
small parties for his friends only - gaming overnights, using
our theater, pool parties - as well as trips to Hurricane
Harbor, Six Flags, and checking out a few other events and
exhibits that interested them.
So, while he enjoyed the time he spent here, I still felt bad
for him when we found out that he'd messed up on the orientation
thing. I looked into the chance of him attending a different
camp, but he wasn't that interested in going by himself, where
he wouldn't know anyone. I did check to see if maybe I could
find a robotics camp. While they're around, all of them were
already full.
Then I thought of BCA's Summer Learning Series.
No, Ethan's not attending there - he's teaching one of the
courses: Lego Mindstorms.
This actually kind of blew up, certainly more than I'd expected.
Lego Mindstorm sets are not cheap. I thought that would put a
pretty tight limit on it. However, last month, when I
approached the staff about adding this class, they were really
excited. It turns out they had some STEM money that they hadn't
been able to spend, as well as some discretionary funds. When
they got word out about it, we ended up having to have a lottery
for the scholarship students who were interested, but we also
got a LOT of interest from families paying full rate, as well as
some kids who hadn't been involved before. They were wiling to
roll all the profit from those kids into increasing the number
of scholarship students who could participate, until Ethan ended
up with three full classes.
This past week was his first week teaching what's going to be a
two week course, and he's having a great time. Because of his
age, Ethan has been working with one of the science teachers at
BCA, who's helped him organize his classes and develop a lesson
plan. He's also taken a couple of his STEM friends in with him
every day to help answer questions and help specific kids with
problems. They're working mornings, and usually home by 12:30
or so, so he still has plenty of free time in the afternoons.
He's teaching kids from 12 to 14, and I think he's made a few
new friends.
#Post#: 7437--------------------------------------------------
Re: Ethan Sheridan Wells
By: Zyngaru Date: July 21, 2018, 9:56 am
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It will be interesting if this unexpected opportunity ignites a
desire to teach. Robotics is an interesting field of study and
while going to college he might get opportunities to teach
middle school kids. This experience might become a desire to
teach robotics instead of working in the robotics field. We
never know how random opportunities will change our future path.
#Post#: 7439--------------------------------------------------
Re: Ethan Sheridan Wells
By: Journey Date: July 21, 2018, 11:40 am
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That's so interesting! Good for him! You know, I began teaching
the summer after my high school graduation under similar
circumstances. :) I hope he has fun!
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