Today, I was lucky enough to be part of Science Night at
Great Lakes Elementary School and teach children about the importance of
exercise and how fun it can actually be. Many people find exercise as mundane
and boring, but it was our job to show how fun it can be!
A bunch of students including myself from the Kinesiology
Department at Hope all were in charge of different exercise-related activities
at the school. There were stations such as vertical jump, sprinting,
sit-and-reach, balance, stepping, jump rope, obstacle courses and then station
I was a part of: Xbox Kinect. People might initially believe that playing Xbox
provides limited exercise and benefits, but this game gets kids to exercise
without even really knowing it because they are interacting with the game by
moving and having a good time.
This whole event lasted about two hours and consisted of all
of the volunteers preparing each of the stations, followed by eating some pizza
generously provided by the elementary school until children began to show up.
Once they did, a small presentation on the purpose of the evening was given and
each of the kids was given a card with all of the stations they had to visit by
the end of the night. From my perspective, the time certainly flew by,
considering my station was the most popular because everybody loves playing the
Xbox. This made it somewhat stressful for me, but all of the children were
really excited to play, regardless if they had had prior experience playing it.
The whole atmosphere of this night was very encouraging and fun because
children and their siblings, friends and parents all got to see that science
encompasses more than just plants, animals and cells, but that exercise is also
in the same field.
Something positive I certainly got out of this evening, besides showing kids the benefits of exercise on health, is that I was able to
learn how to interact with children a lot better, which is needed in the
kinesiology field. I was able to provide a positive image for these kids and
someone to look up to, which I know is nice when you’re the child. In addition,
I personally was able to get to know my peers a whole lot better from this
evening and get more volunteer experience. Hopefully there will be more events
like this, especially in other fields so that things learned in school can be
presented in a fun fashion and motivate children.
That’s it for this week, but don’t forget to follow me on
Twitter @hopeleslie15.