The Harristown Elementary School students—for jumping right in, closing their eyes to open their inner eyes, and for responding to the haiku they read by writing and painting their own.

Kathleen Jensen—for the vision of combining workshops on haiku and painting, and for her contagious enthusiasm for learning which spreads throughout Harristown Elementary School.

Jennifer Griebel—for sharing her arts of haiku and painting with the students at Harristown Elementary School. A busy senior at Millikin University, Jennifer helped out just because she enjoys haiku and sharing so much. This wasn't for credit. It wasn't for pay. It wasn't for a resume builder. It was just because she cares.

Glenda Weldy, Principal of Harristown Elementary School—for opening her school to workshops and for her support and encouragement for the teachers and students to fully participate.

All of the Harristown Elementary School teachers, librarian and teaching assistants who scrambled through our workshops helping students write, edit and paint their haiku in such a rapid state of chaos. Please accept my apologies for encouraging the students to NOT write in sentences when writing haiku. I trust your students got over it and have not continued to rebel against the completeness of sentences.

Wayne Honeycutt, Superintendent of Harristown Schools—for catching a glimpse of the workshops one day and for enjoying haiku from a copy of Mayfly magazine.

Harristown Parent Teachers Organization—for helping with supplies and costs of the workshops and participating fully in the Reading Night event.

The Fulbright Foundation—for sponsoring the teacher exchange program which helps teachers learn more about Japan, and for helping with costs of workshops and publications that continue their mission of spreading knowledge and understanding across cultures.

It has been my pleasure to share the joy of reading, writing and painting haiku with the Harristown Elementary School community. Perhaps some of these students will find a place for haiku or painting and art in their lives beyond school. Perhaps some will find their way to Millikin University and become writing majors or art majors like Jennifer Griebel. Perhaps some of the teachers will continue to read haiku and write haiku with their future students. If we have touched a few lives with the joy of haiku, this has been a successful, worthwhile endeavor.

A big THANKS to all of you,                     

—Dr. Randy Brooks                      
Millikin University