>> Narrator: This week on friends and neighbors.

>> Counselor: If you've got a passion for adventure, you like doing things that are different, that push you outside of your comfort zone.

Most of the people who come, they always leave more than just learning a new skillset, but it's also learning about life lessons.

>> Mark: Archeology is using the material evidence from the past to understand what happened without using written records necessarily.

So it's like a detective, right?

We get a lot of physical evidence, and from that, we reconstruct what happened when people were living at the site.

>> Elizabeth: It's that snap, that little click.

When the two pieces go together, all is right and perfect in the world.

No matter how much chaos there is in the world around you, that piece is just perfect.

>> Dominique: It's been an awesome experience.

And then also to just keep providing joy to the community and fun experiences and teaming up with people in the community.

I think the future's pretty bright for Albanese.

>> Jim: This lighthouse was a lighthouse from 1858 until 1904.

The coast guard took it over in 39.

The city purchased the building from the coast guard.

And one of the stipulations was it would be used as a teaching tool, i.e museum.

>> Doing as much as you can, as quickly as you can is important to me.

Life is short.

And the earlier we get started helping our community, the better off our community will be.

>> I have a very strong connection to other students.

Everyone makes an effort to help each other.

I'll remember the feeling of being here, the feeling that I was a part of a family.

>> Narrator 2: Shopping for fruits and vegetables in the Strack & Van Til produce department is a feast for the senses.

With produce picked at the peak of freshness.

From apples and avocados to pineapples and peppers, treat yourself to the best quality fruits and vegetables.

Find them at your local Strack & Van Til store.

>> Narrator 3: A long lasting legacy of family ownership dedicated to generations of clients is what sets Centier apart.

Trust the integrity, experience, and personal service of Centier, Indiana's largest private family-owned bank.

>> Announcer: Support for programming Lakeshore PBS comes in part from a generous bequest of the Estate of Marjorie A.

Mills, whose remarkable contribution will help us keep viewers like you informed, inspired, and entertained for years to come.

>> Announcer 2: Additional support for Lakeshore PBS is provided by viewers like you.

Thank you.

(upbeat music) >> We are located here, just adjacent to Washington park here in Michigan city.

We are on the south shore of Lake Michigan.

Our sailing school has been around for quite a few decades actually.

So we teach people of all ages.

So we have a youth camp that runs the middle of June through the first week of August.

There are four sessions, and each session runs two consecutive weeks, Monday through Friday, and there's a morning class and an afternoon class.

So half day, five days a week for two weeks.

And we have four of those.

Kids are age 8 to 17.

So we do teach them the basics and fundamentals of sailing.

In the adult program, those classes run from the middle of June through the end of August.

So they go a little bit longer.

And adults is 18 and over.

And these are specifically designed for people who have little to no sailing experience.

We typically in the first week put them on a boat with multiple students and an instructor to teach the fundamentals.

And we do typically a 20, 30 minute classroom session where we talk about what makes a boat go, the kinetics behind what makes a sailboat go through the water, points of sale, right of way, safety, capsizing, again, the fundamentals of sailing.

And so we do that for 20, 30 minutes in the classroom, and then we go immediately out on the water and practice.

In week 2, we actually put the kids in a boat by themselves.

So by week 2, they should be able to sail a boat on their own.

>> Well, I learned how to be the skipper, like steer the boat and adjust the main sail to the wind.

I learned all the parts of the boats, and I learned it was even more fun to do the things on the boat than just sit on the boat.

I met some new people this year.

It was fun to meet them because there's one of them that has more experience than me and I was surprised, and I got to learn some new things from him.

And me and my other friends that we created last year, we call ourselves the furious four.

It it's fun to meet new friends and make new friends at this camp.

>> My first experience, I didn't really know how to sail.

I got to class and expected to learn knots, point of sail, and stuff like that, and just to be out on the water on the boat.

It's so fun.

You honestly are out in the water, getting that sun, just having fun out there.

With the counselors, they make it so fun.

But I was kind of nervous going in and not knowing anyone, but the counselors make you feel so comfortable, and all the people there are just so kind and make you feel like home.

>> When I was about seven, one of my buddies who also has a house in the area, he told me about the program and how he did it over the summer.

And at first I didn't really wanna do it at all.

And my dad, being a long time sailor himself, he pressured me to do it, and that kind of fell in love right away.

It's really interesting.

Cause being when I was a young kid, I didn't really ever see myself in this role.

I figured I would get older over time, but I always really idolized counselors and stuff, and now I realize that that's a position I have to fill.

And I have to be a good role model to the kids and really inspire the love of sailing.

And independence too.

Being out in the water.

Some of these kids, this is their first experience without a parent hovering over the shoulder, they can kinda do whatever they want, which is really cool to see.

>> It's a lot of independence really.

There's a great poem that we read at the beginning of every session, not the beginning of that session, but it kind of guides the class.

And it talks about how mother's aprons and fathers instructions can't reach you out on the water.

It's you in a boat trying to figure things out because it's not always obvious.

Sailing's not always intuitive.

And so you gotta be independent and you gotta solve some problems.

It doesn't always go right when you're out on the water.

Sometimes things go wrong, things break, the wind shifts and you gotta be able to say, that's all right, that happens.

How am I gonna fix this problem?

How am I gonna move on?

So it's a lot of independence and resiliency.

More than anything, I really just want them to have a good time.

I wanted them to have great memories, honestly, cause I think back to when I was a kid and I just had just the best time.

And so if these kids can remember this session, if they say they had the time of their lives, hopefully they learned how to sail, and hopefully they became good people, but honestly, more than anything, I just want them to have a good time.

>> Counselor: If you've got a passion for adventure, you like doing things that are different, that push you outside of your comfort zone, there's really nothing scary about the sport of sailing, right?

And I would actually argue that putting boats on the water without engines on them is probably actually a safer thing anyways.

So what I find is, again, I think most of the people who come, no matter if they have reservations or apprehensions at all, they always leave, I think just really surprised.

Really surprised about how great the sport is, what it means, and again, more than just learning a new skill, but it's also learning about life lessons.

(upbeat music) >> We're at the Collier Lodge site, and it's in Southern Porter County, Indiana.

And at one time it was on the northern edge of the Kankakee Marsh.

And it was one of the few places that you could cross the marsh before the marsh was drained.

And because it was one place you could cross the marsh, people have stopped here for over 11,000 years.

So we've been working here since 2004.

We've worked from 2004 to about 2012 as a cooperative project with the Kankakee Valley Historical Society at Notre Dame to investigate this site and learn what it can tell us about early people who lived in this part of the county.

Archeology is using the material evidence from the past to understand what happened without using written records necessarily.

So it's like a detective, right?

We get a lot of physical evidence.

And from that, we reconstruct what happened when people were living at the site.

A lot of people ask me about dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs are before humans arrived.

So that's paleontology.

It's an area of biology or geology that studies extinct animal remains.

Archeology in the US, is part of anthropology.

And anthropology studies, humans, anything about humans.

So I think of archeology as the anthropology of the past humans.

Why?

Well, this site started off accidentally.

I should say the Collier Lodge site is on the National Register of Historic Places.

John Hodson had acquired the site and he wanted to put a parking lot on it.

I said, "Well, it's a known archeological site.

You need to find out if you're gonna mess anything up before you dig on it."

So we came out with a field school and did some little, what we call shovel probes.

And those had a lot of artifacts and a lot of evidence of intact archeology.

And that led us to have a sequence of digs with the Kankakee Valley Historical Society investigating the site.

And every year, we'd find stuff and then we'd get a new set of questions.

This site, I think, is a unique site for what it can tell us about what the Kankakee Marshal was like before it was drained, but before it was a wetland that's extended from Illinois to South Bend.

So we can learn about the ecology of the area.

For example, we've used freshwater clamshells, we've analyzed their isotope composition to reconstruct the climate over time.

Most sites only represent one time period or one culture.

This site represents many.

So you can get a lot of information just from one excavation and just see how human behavior changed over time.

Since they tore it on the lodge, this year, we thought we'd come back.

And one question is, if you take out the concrete block foundation, how can you do that without damaging the site toward the preservation of this as being National Register eligible site?

Oh, this place produces almost any kind of artifact you can imagine.

Our earliest artifact was a spear point made of stone, stone spear point from 11,000 BC.

Right before that this area had been glaciated and was very different climate environment, but by 11,000 BC, the forest were starting to establish.

And this is proof right when the forest were established, people just started moving in.

We found prehistoric pottery from many different time periods.

The first pottery is 800 BC.

We found pottery that dates up to the 1500s almost.

Later on, the site was inhabited up to the 1980s.

So later in the 50s, we find little toy cars and we 70s, we find plastic army men, and then we find coins from all different eras.

So we find a huge variety of things.

So you get a really good cross section of what people are doing here from the preservation.

Why do I like doing this?

That's a great question.

Because I was working in industry after I got my bachelor's degree and I wasn't happy.

I looked at archeology and I started reading the professional literature and I found out, wow, I can really understand this stuff.

I think this is an area I could make a personal contribution.

And that's what got me into it.

And thing that keeps coming be coming back is that you never know what you're gonna find, right?

You can put a hole in the ground and who knows?

You have nothing there, or you could find something really interesting.

And it's always just exciting.

You know, sometimes people try to talk about archeology and give some utilitarian gloss on it that here's what it's practically useful for.

I don't know if it's like super practically useful, right?

Like a lot of stuff we do, there's not a practical use for it, but we like it, it enriches us as human.

You know, I constantly have people emailing me pictures of artifacts.

What is this?

You know?

And they wanna know what it is and what it means.

And I think we just have this desire to know about the past and archeology is the only way we can do that if we don't have historic records.

So it's the only way for us to look at the past before things were written down.

>> I think some of my earliest memories are actually of me playing with different bricks and building lots of towns.

There were always towns and cars.

(upbeat music) I think I decided I really wanted to push the Instagram and design things while I was pregnant because I was really sick.

I couldn't move.

So I started using BrickLink Studio and designing things on my computer.

And then I posted some things on Lego ideas and got way more attention than I thought I would.

And from there in the last probably two and a half years, it's just built and built and built.

I started reaching out to people and doing designs that more people were interested in.

I sell the instructions for some of my pieces.

I've had some people commission me for instructions, for things mostly.

And then I have had organizations mostly ask me to create things for them.

I've done educational kits from the Soil and Water Conservation District.

The project that we recently did was a soil layers diagram and it's geared towards first graders.

So the kids build each soil layer from Lego, build it up, and then they finally have a little plant on top.

And then the instructions are designed so that they have the different soil layers listed.

If you build it, you're more inclined to remember what you're doing.

So if a kid's going to create the different soil layers, they're like, "Oh, this is the hummus, this is the top soil."

They've touched it, so it might actually stick to their brains for a little while.

So I decided to design the Greensburg Courthouse because it's one of my big landmarks from my childhood.

That one started out as a Lego ideas challenge.

They challenged everybody to build a set in the style of Lego architecture.

I designed it.

And then probably six months later, visit Greensburg reach out to me and asked me if I would make it for them.

So I did.

They've actually got two other builds.

One's a tower that kids can build while they visit there, and then another is a teeny tiny microscale courthouse.

My first convention will be Brickworld Chicago.

The pieces behind me will be there along with a Super Mario World.

This is my first time displaying.

I have only ever been the anonymous brick built babe behind the Instagram.

I don't post pictures of myself.

I don't get out much.

This will be kind of my debut into the adult fan of Lego world.

It's more than just an art form in our house.

Our son is, he's autistic and he has ADHD.

So he is had all kinds of behavior issues and we've built an entire reward system on Lego pieces and incentivize them.

And not only do they help with behavior modifications, but they also helped with his fine motor skills.

And then for us, it's just keeping our brains active and being artistic while enjoying something that we can do as a family.

It's that snap, that little click when the two pieces go together, all is right and perfect in the world.

I'm actually a very anxious person and I've had some incredible battles with anxiety.

And I've found that when I'm sitting there, it's like a mental health activity.

Each piece has its place to go.

So I could sit there and I could put each of these little pieces together and everything clicked together.

And no matter how much chaos there is in the world around you, that piece is just perfect.

There is no chaos, there is no uncertainty, it's just the way it is.

There really aren't any limitations.

You can do whatever you want out of Lego, you just have to be able to sit there and think about it.

And come up with the right recipe for that design to actually work.

(cheerful music) >> Albanese is my family's last name.

And my mom and dad started the company over 37 years ago.

Who wouldn't want their dad to be the real life Willy Wonka, right?

He was flipping through the yellow book phone pages prior to Google.

You know, really wasn't finding a business that he felt could make people happy.

He wanted to see that instant joy on people's faces.

So he opened up a specialty retail candy store, which is still there today in Merrillville, Indiana.

And once people started to see the quality of candy we were providing, my dad said, "Where's the next opportunity in the market?"

He sell a really high quality nut for a reasonable price that everyone could afford.

And so he went out and found and the biggest pecans, the biggest almonds, the biggest cashew, and sold them at a reasonable price.

One of the newest products that we actually made was our Ultimate 8 Flavor Bears.

And this just actually won the NEXTY Consumer Award.

You might not know what a NEXTY Consumer Award is, but it's actually one of the largest trade shows in the world that has over 80,000 people that attend.

And they voted out of hundreds and hundreds of product on which is the best, most innovative product for 2020.

And our Ultimate 8 Flavor Bears actually won that award.

And it was an award that the consumers voted on.

And what's really cool about the 8 flavor ultimate gummi bears is it brings up a different experience than our traditional 12 flavor bears or gummi bears that you buy in our store today.

All of the unique colors have a flavor, right?

We're delivering that experience.

The red one really tastes like cherry.

The orange one tastes like orange.

The green one tastes like green apple.

What was really our claim to fame was that we provided flavor in each individual gummy.

And it's a unique experience, every single one.

So we actually sell at over 41 different countries.

So we're worldwide.

Our gummies were actually the first ones to ever go up in outer space, which is a cool fun fact.

We feel like when anybody comes in to our candy factory outlet store, that they're gonna find something that brings them back into being a kid.

We believe in providing a lot of variety for people to choose so that everybody can come in here and have one of those moments that make you feel like a kid again.

Helping a community by providing a great fun place that doesn't cost you all the money to come here, right?

Cause we're a factory retail outlet store.

So my family's mission in life is to help people.

That's what this whole place is about.

That's really our core in who we are as a company.

And so the future of Albanese for us is really bright.

We're really excited about it.

To do it with my sisters and I together has just been an awesome experience.

And then also to just keep providing joy to the community and fun experiences and teaming up with people in the community.

I think the future's pretty bright for Albanese.

(relaxing groovy music) >> We had visitors from 24 different countries in all 50 states of the union, which is unbelievable.

Major Isaac C. Elston.

He was from Crawfordsville, Indiana.

He was a land speculator and he foresaw this area as being the only port in Indiana, the first and only port in Indiana.

So in the 1830s, he bought this property.

He and his wife decided that the first thing that they're gonna need in a port is a lighthouse.

So he documented and donated this piece of property to the US light keeping service.

One of the first things people ask us is why is the water way out there and the lighthouse was way in here?

Well, in 1837, that water was almost to the gate that you walked in, that wrought iron gate.

So that's why the lighthouse was here.

This lighthouse was a lighthouse from 1858 until 1904.

The coast guard took it over in '39.

The coast guard deemed it surplus in the 60s.

The city purchased the building from the coast guard.

And one of the stipulations was it would be used as a teaching tool, i.e museum.

And that's where the Historical Society came into into play.

In 1965, they signed a contract with the city of Michigan City, and that's when they started renovations.

It took them until 1973 to actually open.

But a lot of a lot of the work was done gratis.

A lot of the work was done by Historical Society members and tradesmen.

What we tried to do on the inside is give a little bit of addressing the history of the shipping and the shipwreck.

We do have some artifacts that were from the J.D.

Marshall and the F.W.

Wheeler.

We're very, very proud of our Eastland Memorial here.

That's 844 six inch stud anchor chain links.

One link for each soul's lost on the morning of July 24th, 1915.

Up in the Lincoln room, we actually have a piece of the bunting from the night that Lincoln was shot.

We try to do our best in doing the exhibits.

We do them ourselves.

We don't have professional people come in and do it.

We're very proud of the fact that we do that.

You see so many historical buildings end up in a pile of rubble and this could have happened here and it didn't.

And we're extremely proud of it.

And I'm extremely proud of everybody who contributes today and the yesteryear.

>> Doing as much as you can as quickly as you can is important to me.

Life is short.

And the earlier we get started helping our community, the better off our community will be.

>> Almost every single professor I've had I'm on a first name basis.

By building that relationship with faculty, I was able to get involved with research.

It's one thing to read about an idea in a book versus physically doing it and seeing the results.

>> Narrator 4: Strack & Van Til is your wedding planning partner.

Choose handcrafted designs by the trained floral designers in our floral department, plan a memorable meal for your reception from our delicious catering menu, and let our bakery artisans design the wedding cake of your dreams.

Visit strackandvantil.com for details.

>> Narrator 2: A long lasting legacy of family ownership dedicated to generations of clients is what sets Centier apart.

Trust the integrity, experience, and personal service of Centier, Indiana's largest private family-owned bank.

>> Announcer: Support for programming Lakeshore PBS comes in part from a generous bequest of the Estate of Marjorie A.

Mills, whose remarkable contribution will help us keep viewers like you informed, inspired, and entertained for years to come.

(peaceful music) >> Announcer 2: Additional support for Lakeshore PBS is provided by viewers like you.

Thank you.

(upbeat music)