It was a nice change of pace to head out of town this week! Helloooo Shelbyville!!! Shelbyville High School has just received a face-lift, so their entrance was beautiful and very modern. Speaking of modern, the first thing on my list of things to do at Shelbyville was to meet with the Anime (pronounced "Annie-May") Club. I foolishly thought Anime was a Japanese cartoon...NOOOOOOO! I can still hear the students yelling in protest! The word "Anime" is just the Japanese word for animation, but it is considered a form of art with teens and adults in mind. (We're not talkin' Tom & Jerry here!) The Anime club at Shelbyville is a group of students who enjoy watching, reading, creating and acting out Anime and Manga (Japanese word for comic books and animation in general.) I sat and watched a bit with the students and laughed my head off! I highly recommend checking one out...
Next, I met with Shelbyville's drum line. I know...every school has one...what's unique and cool about a drum line? - Let me tell you! They have an instrument called the "drum bone", which is made out of PVC sewer pipe! They play a song that originated from the Blue Man Group - although the students that play the drum bone have never seen the Blue Man Group perform. I applaud them for taking a chance at something fun and different! Rock on!
Last, but not least, I visited with the 4 students (or founding fathers) of Shelbyville's Robotics Team. They build robots using a kit provided to accomplish a certain task. For instance, they have to compete with other robots to lift tennis balls and place them in a "goal." The difficult part is figuring out how to do that! I wish them lots of luck in their upcoming competition...kick some butt and don't forget to take names!