[Namron] Medieval Club @ ASTEC Charter Schools

[cgehringer]

To ALL, 

(This missive was originally intended for various individuals and was 
originally sent on 9/23/04 and again on 10/5/04.  It was written before I 
knew of the Barony e-mail list.  The e-mail list now seems to be the best 
method of presenting the information.)

Greetings and Salutations.  I hope that this e-mail finds you all well.

    I apologise that I did not get this information to you and contact you 
all about a week earlier, but I will simply try and move onward from today 
rather than dwell on the misspent time of the past.

    There are about 20-30 students who have shown interest in the Medieval 
club.  About 20-25 have shown up at the last 4 meetings.  The first meeting 
was to advise the students about what they were "getting themselves into", so 
to speak.  The second meeting was an explanation of the origins, history, and 
intent of the SCA.  (I am the person who did the sociological survey of the 
SCA about 15 years ago For my Senior Honors Thesis at the University of 
Tulsa.)  It is time to start scheduling guests to arrive and present 
information.  
    If you could start contacting individuals who you know and identify 
what and when they may be available to present and then send that information 
to me, I can begin constructing a master calander.  When sending information 
identifying a presenter, please include the following:

                       Mundane Name
                       SCA Name
                       e-mail address
                       daytime contact phone #
                       Topic(s) of presentation(s)
                       Materials/fee(s)
                       Date(s) available

    The schools are closed Thursday 10/21/04, 11/25/04, and 12/23/04 this 
semester.  There may be a few additional days when the meetings are cancelled 
for one reason or another and I will announce those as they come up.
    (My thoughts - worry about next semester after this one is figured out.) 

   The students are 6th-11th grade level, approximately 13-17 years old and 
it is a "School" club.  Please keep that in mind when discussing potential 
presentations with your contacts.
   All of the  Medieval club sessions are from 3:30pm until 5:00pm on every 
Thursday of the month that school is in session.  The school is located at 
Shepherd Mall on NW 23rd St. in OKC between May and Penn. Aves.  The site of 
the presentations is ASTEC Charter Middle School located at the far south 
east end of the mall.  Easiest entry to park near the school is off of NW 
23rd st.  There is an enclosed courtyard that may be used for fighting 
demonstrations or other outside activities - weather permitting.  There is 
also a classroom, #11, assigned for us to use.  It has 1 white board and I 
can have an overhead projector in the room if needed.  More sophisticated 
presentation equipment - vcr/TV, computer projection system, etc. I may be 
able to arrange given enough forwarning.

    The main theme of ASTEC's education philosophy is to have as much hands 
on activities as possible, so if there is any way to incorporate a hands on 
activity into the presentations, it would be greatly appreciated and WELL 
received.  The students have been advised that there may be additional 
costs/fees depending on the nature of the presentations to cover materials 
cost.  Please be sure and include that information with the presenter 
information.  The students have already begun talking amongst themselves 
about fund raisers they can do to subsidize the cost for students who cannot 
afford additional fees so that everyone can participate.

    Here is a list of topics the students mentioned during the first meeting 
when I asked them what topics they were interested in:

    Archery     Needlework     Leatherwork     Chainmail     Weapons     
    Fighting Styles     Engineering     Catapults     Seige Tactics     
    Art     Caligraphy     Stained Glass     Heraldry     Geneology     
    Languages - Old English, Norse, German, Galic     Jousting     
    Combat Tactics     Medieval Movies     Horses-Barding/Tack & Harness 
    Heavy & Light weapons combat     Medieval Holidays   FOOD!!!
    Medieval Trivia     Medicine     Politics/Government     Economics
    Falconry     Jewlery     Toture(probably not a good one to choose - But 
I told them I would include it)   Pre-Feudal/Feudal Japan     
    Medieval games  Medieval Dances     Medieval clothes

As you can see - they were rather curious.

Let me know what you think and if there are any suggestions/problems.  The 
next meeting is scheduled for Thursday 10/14/04.  I know this is a short 
amount of time, but if there is someone who is able to present this week I 
would be more than happy to step aside and let them have the floor. 

Thank you for your willingness to help.

Mr. Christopher Gehringer
ASTEC Charter High School
Mathematics Teacher