Introduction

Hello friends and family,

This September 7, I will be competing in a half-ironman distance triathlon at Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH.  While training for this event, I would like to raise money to support K-12 science education through DonorsChoose.org.  This website gives dedicated, active teachers a way to fund innovative and exciting projects to engage their students, for which they wouldn’t otherwise have the means.  People like you and me can pick which projects to donate to, and DonorsChoose.org buys and ships the supplies to the schools.  They’ll send you photos of the students taking part in the project and a letter from the teacher (that way you know your money was used responsibly).  For donations over $50, you can expect a hand-written thank you from the students themselves!

I’m calling this project “Sciathlon” – each week of training, I plan to share a story describing one small way science has changed the way I view the world.  By doing so, I hope to promote the value of science, and convince others that it is worth giving young students the ability to embark on their own scientific adventures. 

I have been fortunate enough to receive a fantastic education over my lifetime.  Not everyone is so lucky.  I would never have traveled down this “scientific” path without the opportunities I had as a kid – tinkering with K’NEX, debugging (or breaking) the family computer, and reading everything I could get my hands on about dinosaurs and airplanes.  With your help, I hope many young students get to experience the excitement and wonder of scientific discovery.

I will suggest several science projects on DonorsChoose.org which I find particularly creative, educational, and immersive.  I will post these here and on my donor page at http://www.donorschoose.org/sciathlon.  If you like these projects, please consider donating directly to them.  Alternatively, please peruse the website yourself, searching for interesting projects (science or otherwise) and feel free to donate to whatever you feel worthwhile.  Feel free to share with me any exciting projects that you stumble across, and I will re-blog them for others to check out.

Thanks for your support!