Happy May everyone!
I truly cannot believe May is quickly flying by with June
fast approaching! As I start preparing for my graduation, time just doesn’t
seem to want to slow down. That being said I know it’s been a while since you
all have heard from me so I’m going to fill you in on what I’ve been up to. In
April I had the privilege of personally organizing a lesson plan for the Eagles Head Start program. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Head Start, it is a
federally funded program for children coming from low-income families. Students
who attend a Head Start program partake in educational activities geared towards
preparing them for kindergarten, and the kids usually range from 3-5 years old.
As a member of my National Honor Society Leadership group, I volunteered to help
head this project. The activities I planned centered on how to be heart healthy
individuals! We started by asking all the kids if they knew where their hearts
were. Answers ranged from in their head to in their stomachs. However there
were some smarties who knew exactly where it was! Next we fashioned a popsicle
stick with one happy paper heart and one sad paper heart. We then asked the
kids what some of their favorite activities were. They answered anywhere from
video games to playing tag in the yard. Using those activities as examples we
then asked the kids if their hearts were “happy” or “sad” while they were doing
those. While their favorite part was most definitely creating the happy and sad
hearts, they caught on very fast to what activities elevated their heart rates.
After we finished with our paper hearts we got to finger paint! We attempted to
place hand prints in the shape of a heart on a canvas board (it turned out more
like a circle) however the kiddies enjoyed it nonetheless. They were pleasantly
surprised their teacher was allowing them to get their hands so messy! Finally
we ended by standing in a big circle and dancing the hokey pokey together.
Right after we finished we felt our pulse and all the kids proceeded to scream
that their hearts were “very happy right now!” I had such a good time, and I
know the rest of my classmates felt the same way. So many of those kids really
knew how to leave an impression.
Next came the heart walk! Ashley,
Erica, and I participated in the annual heart walk that was held at the Scheels
Center towards the end of April. We had fun taking pictures in our red boa’s,
participating in the walk itself, and most of all hearing the inspirational
stories that drew people to the event. The Go Red events we do are so much fun
because we all three love spending the time together! We even had a ‘sister
queen’ sleepover the night before!
Following those events things with school started to really
pick up. As I began preparing for my AP exams it seemed all my free time was spent
studying at Starbucks. As of today I am happy to say that I have 2 of my 3 AP
exams behind me and my final one is tomorrow! I am so looking forward to being
done with those and getting back to focusing on Nationals! It is a good thing I
love being busy because in the upcoming weeks a whole lot is about to happen!
Stay tuned to hear all about it!
Olivia
Miss Teen ND International 2012