Sam Chapman

This is a great time to look at Lake Travis waterfront properties. Why? The drought and a low water level. If someone really wants a Lake Travis waterfront home, he or she will want to know if it will have a boat dock sitting on dry ground during times of drought. Central Texas has been in an exceptional drought for two years. The image below will show that.

The next image will show a lot of Lake Travis shoreline that normally is under water.

The photo above shows the main body of the lake. Many waterfront homes will be on coves. Some are deep and wide enough to have water in them now and some are not. The only way to know if a waterfront home will have water during times of drought is to get out and look at it when the lake is low. Now is that time.

Will Lake Travis go lower? It has before. The spring rainy season is over. About the only think now that will fill the lake back up is a tropical system or some other exceptional rain event. The other way Lake Travis will fill back up is to have the drought end and regular rain come back and that will take a while.

Interested in a Lake Travis home? Give me a call at 512-293-2422.

A new community service club was started at Lake Travis Middle School (LTMS) in January. Sponsored by the Lakeway/Lake Travis Rotary Club, the LTMS club is called EarlyAct. Similar to Interact at the high school level, which stands for international action, EarlyAct is for younger students. Students at LTMS this year organized a pet food drive that gathered almost 700 pounds of pet food for a local animal shelter. Below are the officers and charter members of EarlyAct at LTMS.

I was lucky enough to be one of the Rotary advisors to EarlyAct at LTMS. When I am not working with clubs like EarlyAct and Interact, I am selling Lake Travis real estate.

Lake Travis - 63 miles of boating fun.

Hamilton Pool - about 40 minutes west of downtown Austin.

Krause Springs - in Spicewood. Imagine 32 springs pouring into this Texas swimming hole.

Pedernales Falls State Park - the swimming/wading is below the falls in the river.

See more Austin area photos at my Austin real estate website.

The American Cancer Society Relay For Life I participate in is 8 days away. Two weeks ago the planning committee consisted of one staff partner from the ACS and 6 high school students. This was a little scary so I jumped in to chair the event again. Looks like we'll be all right, but I'm worried that fundraising wil be low.

Anyone care to donate? I'd rather see 100 donations of $10 than hope for a huge donation. Any takers, please click HERE to donate.

Thanks!

The Rotary Club of Lakeway-Lake Travis implemented a new ethics and character education called EarlyAct First Knight (EAFK) at Lakeway Elementary and Lake Travis Middle Schools this month.

The purpose of EAFK is to develop young people into ethical, morally sound, community-oriented, self-disciplined adults who will become responsible members of society. The purpose of the EAFK Service Club is to promote goodwill, understanding and peace through the active participation of its student members so, that with committed citizenship and effective leadership, they may improve the quality of life of their school, local and global communities.

EAFK also provides children with daily academic character instruction during a child's most formative years. Based on Bloom's Taxonomy, the curriculum is integrated and teachable in daily 10-minute lessons by educators in their classrooms. The educational component meets the requirements of Texas House Bill 946, which requires character education in all Texas public schools.

Why EarlyAct First Knight? There is a serious ethical impairment in this country and a lack of character in people our kids look up to. Teaching young children about ethics and character as well as having them actively participate in community service projects can give them a foundation for the future.

Research highlights:

Up to 75% student disciplinary referral reductions (office visits for behavior problems).

Up to 97% voluntary involvement of total student population in service clubs.

98% of program-involved parents and 95% of faculty give "excellent" favorability ratings.

100% of client schools say EAFK helps improve overall student academic performance and behavior.

EAFK teaches the Rotary tradition of "service above self" through the visually captivating theme of knightly heroes. Each month the schools have Knighting Ceremonies. For demonstrating mastery of and by living a specific character trait, students will be recognized, given medallions and knighted by a knight in full armor.

There will be an event at Lake Travis Middle School on Tuesday, May 5 at 1:15 that will reward the students for the successful implementation of EAFK in their school. Knights in full armor and costumed war horses will put on a show for the students and the program will end with the final Knighting Ceremony of the school year.

We just had the kick-off event at Lakeway Elementary last Friday and EVERYONE loved it. It featured knights in armor and costumed war horses including Thor, the tallest horse in the world standing over 20 hands high. Click here and here for a couple of videos from the event.