A Day of Community Outreach

    Hello everyone, it's Bryan again! I am going to share with you what I did on Tuesday with Dr. Nassaney. We both took some time away from the field to meet with a very wonderful group of people that are making a difference in the community of Niles, MI. We also talked to a radio host about our passions in archaeology and what will come next in the upcoming week of the field school.

A beautiful picture from the inside of
Ho Ping Garden.

         It all started out as a regular day and we went out in the field to start digging in our units and wet screening our soil buckets. Around 10:30 a.m., I left the site to go meet with Dr. Nassaney to head to our special lunch. We drove to Ho Ping Garden, an amazingly decorated Chinese restaurant along 11^th street to meet with this group called the Optimist Club.

        If you don’t know what the Optimist Club is, they are a group of citizens that work together to create a more optimistic future for kids in their community. This group is not just in Niles, it is an international organization that spreads from Canada all the way south to some parts in the Caribbean. This chapter goes beyond working to improve the lives of the children within Niles, they try to improve everyone’s lives in Niles. All the members of the club are highly invested/interested in what we are doing in this project as well, so they invited Dr. Nassaney to give a short 20-minute presentation on what we have found so far in the project as well as recent finds from this season. Overall it was a very positive experience and it was so nice to meet these amazing people and learn about what they are trying to accomplish within their community. If you are interested in learning more, the club has a Facebook page for you to check out to see upcoming events they are involved with. Here is the motto that they go by and if you like what you read, I would highly recommend you get in contact with someone in the club to start getting involved:

I took this photo of Dr. Nassaney at the restaurant.

Promise Yourself

To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.

To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

The Chamber of Commerce building
where our interview was held.

                  The second meeting today was at the Chamber of Commerce in the city of Niles. We did an interview with a radio show host over the phone for a local station. The purpose of the interview was to promote our open house this weekend! But, he was also interested in why we each chose archaeology as well. Even though it was just a four-minute conversation for the both of us, I believe that we promoted the event well and I hope that it brings in lots of people.

                  After all of that, I had to go back to the field and I worked on my unit again. It was a good day that showed the theme of this year’s open house, community partnerships. It was nice to be involved with the process and to see more of the support that we are getting in our own project. If you want to see what has been going on at the site, what all the students have been working on this past month, and what we have found in our units, come to the open house this Saturday and Sunday from 10-4. Hope to see all of you there!