School's First Skype Assembly Welcomes Student Author-Activist Olivia Bouler!



An exciting interactive assembly using Skype technology for the first time in the school's gymnasium brought this year's Parents As Reading Partners activities to an inspiring conclusion. Garrison virtually welcomed Olivia Bouler, a 12-year-old who wrote a book filled with original bird drawings to raise money for wildlife endangered by the Gulf oil spill. Her efforts have raised more than $200,000 for the cause and brought her national attention, including an invitation to meet with President Obama at the White House. Olivia left her own school early to connect via Skype in her family's Long Island home office from 2 to 3 p.m. on Nov. 30, two weeks after her talk had been postponed due to a school power outage. "Kids of any age can make a difference," she told the students, appearing on a large screen over the gym stage. "You can make a difference." Saying that meeting President Obama is going to be "awesome," Olivia shared with the entire school how she was motivated to help the birds and other wildlife when she saw how helpless they were as they tried to care for their young in the midst of the oil spill. "Kids are the next generation," she said. "We are going to be the ones to stand up for the animals and the environment. Kids can believe in the impossible." She said she had a strong connection to the area after spending many summers along the Gulf of Mexico with her grandparents who live there. She has always loved to draw so she combined this passion with the idea for a book, which became "Olivia's Birds: Saving the Gulf." Sincere and unpretentious, Olivia made it easy for her audience to connect with her. Dozens of students raised their hands during what became an extended Q-and-A session. It was a thrill to see the students have the chance to interact with Olivia and showed the potential for such visits in the future with speakers who similarly might not otherwise be able to travel to the school in person. In response to one eighth-grader's question about how to start her own effort, Olivia advised that she needed to feel passionate about the cause, find a platform and a hook that uses her talents, like she did with her writing and drawing, and use social networking to spread the message among all her friends so it will "go viral." When Olivia allowed in response to another question that the newfound fame had led to teasing from some other students, Guidance Counselor Mike Williams asked her to explain how she deals with that. "I ignore them and know that they are just being losers and don't have anything better to do," shared Olivia. "They are putting off their own self-disappointment on you." When asked by a fourth grader how her success helping the Gulf Coast birds has made her feel, she replied, "Fantastic!" Special thanks to environmental educators Cathy Bakker and Pete Samuelsohn for proposing and arranging Olivia's visit and to GUFS technology specialist Nancy Romano for making it happen!