Remarks
Phillip Roosevelt Oliver
Science Teacher
Leckie Elementary School

Thank you Mr. Mayor.  I am sure that I speak for all of the teachers assembled here when I tell you how wonderful it is to have the pleasure of your company, along with that of the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture -- Secretary Glickman as well as the other distinguished guests gathered here today as we embark upon an extraordinary adventure to South Africa.

How proud we are, as teachers from southeast, and far southwest, in the eighth ward of our city, to have this marvelous opportunity to join with the United States Department of Agriculture in this initiative to have elementary school teachers participate in researching the biodiversity of distant and exotic South Africa.  How fortunate our students, and students throughout, are to be able to follow us on our adventure through an internet web site which will chronicle our daily activities so that our students and other children can share our experiences, at least vicariously.

And what will those experiences be like for those of us actually there?

For me personally, I expect to be charmed, if not mesmerized by the natural beauty that awaits us south of the equator.  I expect to be enlightened, and edified in environmental concerns, by the courses which we will undertake at the Southern African Wildlife College. 

I expect to be both amazed and astonished by the magnificence of the myriad of plant and animal species to be found in Kruger National Park.  I expect to be a little pensive as we take a night drive through the Timbavati.  And I expect a feeling of exhilaration once that drive is done.

I expect to encounter a familiar parlance as we interact with teachers and school children from an educational facility in the Mier Veld.  And I expect to be fully recovered from my jet-lag as we rest and observe July fourth -- Independence Day.

... And then, recharged from that, I expect to exhaust my ample supply of videotape as we tour Kalahari Gemsbok National Park.  Finally, I expect to have an experience to tell my grandchildren about, as we sleep in the open, under the southern starts, on the sand dunes of the Kalahari.  I expect to feel rather melancholy on July 17th as we board our departing flight in Johannesburg, but I also expect to feel elated at the prospect of again sleeping in my own bed.

In the fall, when we return to our classrooms, all of the experiences which we will have had, as part of the USDA-DC Initiative, will, I am sure, imbue our science instruction with new vigor and a new verve, and import to our students a new understanding of ecological issues and environmental concerns.  And, instill upon them, a new appreciation of their obligations and responsibilities, as we prepare them for their roles as global citizens in the new millenium.

Again, on behalf of all of the teachers, I would like to express my gratitude to the South Africans who have granted us the opportunity to visit their country and the privilege of working with their teachers and scientists on this important research project.

Last modified: Tuesday, February 22, 2005