Talk to eighth graders

On Oct. 15, I spoke to two eighth-grade classes at Pierre Moran Middle School in Elkhart about the Friends of the Pumpkinvine. The classes were Business/Marketing and Youth Philanthropy. The teacher, Emily Davidson, has invited 10 area non-profit organizations to address the class to explain what their organization does and how they raise money. After hearing from the 10 non-profits, the class will decide which organization they would like to help with marketing and offer them their services.

I began each class by asking the students how many had heard of the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail and how many had ridden on it. It surprised me that out of 37 student, only five or six had heard of the Pumpkinvine and three or four had ridden on it.

Friends of the Pumpkinvine 2914 Photo Contest

The Friends of the Pumpkinvine are sponsoring a photo contest to highlight the beauty of the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail. Here are the contest rules:

1. Theme:  The colorful Pumpkinvine Nature Trail.
2. Entries must be submitted by sending them as attachments to Friends@pumpkinvine.org by December 31, 2014.
3. Each entrant may submit up to three images. Submission of more than three images will disqualify all entries. Indicating your name, and home address in the body of the e-mail. We will use this e-mail address to notify you if your photo is selected as one of the winning photographs.
4. Entries must be submitted by the original photographer. Do not submit a photo taken by someone else. You must be the sole owner of the copyright of any image submitted. Your submission of the photo is your guarantee that you are the author and copyright holder of the photo.
5. No photographer identification may appear on the image.
6. All submissions must be made from images taken on the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail in 2014. The trail must be recognizable in the photo. Photos of small objects like individual flowers, for example, will not be eligible. 
7. If people in the photograph are recognizable, you must provide name and phone number or email for each one.
8. Photos must be taken with a camera with ample megapixels and resolution for printing. No phone photos accepted.    
9. Prizes: 1st - $100; 2nd -$75; 3rd - $50; 4th. $25  
10. Judging will be by the Goshen Photographer’s Guild.
11. The winning photographers will be notified next January. Their photos will be published in the March issue of Pumpkinvine Trail Talk, may be displayed at the next year's Friends of the Pumpkinvine brochure, Pumpkinvine Bike Ride brochure and at other appropriate locations, including the Friends of the Pumpkinvine website www.pumpkinvine.org, and blog http://fopvnt.blogspot.com/ . 
12. By entering the Contest, all entrants grant an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive license to the Friends of the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail, Inc., to reproduce, distribute, display and create derivative works of the entries in any media now or hereafter known.