HGMS has a new Outreach Project to help provide Earth Science and Lapidary (jewelry making) education in Harris County. There are eight districts in which we will have an HGMS group, each group hopefully to be joined by others with similar interests to operate in that district. The eight districts are the same geographical areas as and will go by the same numbers as Harris County’s eight JP/Constable Precincts. These District boundaries will give us approximately the same population and other considerations that the County Government has set up, so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
Our folks can work with other groups who have some of the same interests and who will assist by providing a space for programs and for the “hands on” cutting and polishing of stones for jewelry, fossil identification, and the other things that HGMS does. Some possible joint sponsors are civic groups, libraries, church groups, scout troops, engineering groups, earth science professional groups, and on and on.
Each of the districts will have a nucleus of say five to 15 or 20 HGMS members who know the HGMS Purpose (see page 3 in any issue of The Backbender’s Gazette) and who are interested in providing more earth science and lapidary education to more people in Harris County and in the Houston metropolitan area. This HGMS nucleus will promote HGMS county-wide by acquainting the public with HGMS. They will hold such meetings several times a year at some location within the District—sessions that include cutting and polishing stones, identification of fossils and minerals, and education about the Earth and its treasures.
We are especially interested in getting students and younger folks interested in Earth Science as this nation needs many new scientists and others interested in these fields to provide the energy and products and creativity that this nation needs as it moves forward into the future.
We anticipate that our co-sponsors will provide the facilities for HGMS to put on FREE programs with no expense to HGMS. Districts may select the presentation of nature shows and gem and mineral and paleontology films and other programs tied to what HGMS does to create interest in young folks and adults alike. Schools may wish to invite our HGMS members to put on programs for classes. Some of us have gone to schools for years to present programs, and it increases the interest in HGMS as well as in Earth Science.
SO, IF YOU WANT TO BE PART OF THIS NEW OUTREACH PROGRAM, contact T. W. “Terry” Proctor, J.D., President of Houston Gem & Mineral Society, and let him know of your interest. You can fill out the very simple form on this Web site (it can be filled in online, and you can save it by clicking on the disc icon above the purple bar). E-mail it to president@hgms.org, or FAX it, or send it to him by plain mail. Click here to open the form. You need Adobe Reader to open the file. Adobe Reader can be downloaded for free at http://get.adobe.com/reader/
If you don’t know your District, you can go to the Harris County government Web site and look up Constable districts. There are eight of them, and they are exactly the same as the Justice of the Peace Precincts. Then your group can discuss contacts within your District to start the job of promoting Earth Science education and Houston Gem & Mineral Society. Thank you for your interest and response.
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