by Leon Stall, Gibbon Public Schools

To get the students more involved in government and geography, I created a two-part social studies project called "the traveling Buffys." There are actually four miniature stuffed toy buffaloes circulating around the world. (As you may know, Buffy the Buffalo is Gibbon's mascot.) Even though the project started just before Christmas break, many of the students are just getting the chance to see pictures of Buffy’s travels.

Part 1: As a government project
My objective was for the students to make a connection between themselves and their elected officials. The goal is to create a photo album containing photographs of our elected officials with Buffy who is traveling in a box with an identification tag and instructions for the elected officials. The instructions are for the elected official to have their picture taken with Buffy, write a description of their elected obligations, and either post the picture and information directly to the geocaching.com website or email me the information to be posted.

The students looked up the different levels of government and the elected officials in those offices to establish the path BUFFY must take. The stops in order are: 1) the school board president, 2) a city council representative, 3) the mayor of Gibbon, 4) the county supervisor, 5) a state senator, 6) the Nebraska governor, 7) the 3rd District House of Rep. Member, 8) two U.S. Senators, and finally 9) the President of the United States.

Part 2: As a geography project
My objective was for the students to make a greater connection between themselves and the rest of the world through a personal association. I asked the students for names and addresses of individuals living abroad so we could send Buffy on a world tour. The recipients were asked to place Buffy in key historical or prominent places in their community and take a picture. The individuals could post the information themselves or email the picture and a brief narrative back to me to post on the website. Buffy’s initial stops were in Israel, Iraq and Australia. We’ve already received correspondences back from Israel and have some truly awesome pictures and narratives associated with the pictures.




Project Update:
Buffy has recently left the hands of the Mayor of Gibbon and is on his way to the Buffalo County Supervisor. A second Buffy arrived and toured Israel on Christmas Eve, even visiting Bethlehem. He is now heading to the southern hemisphere!