Ahhhh, fall break. It just couldn’t come soon enough. The past several weeks have been filled with studying, studying, studying and frequent late-night trips to Dysart’s Truck Stop for DELICIOUS desserts--I’ve never been an advocate of super-strict diets. If you stay active and eat balanced meals, there’s no reason why you can’t treat yourself every now and then ;)
Anyway, it’s nice to have a few days off to relax with my family and friends back in Saco, and the mini break has given me the opportunity to make a few appearances in Southern and Central Maine!
On Friday, I visited Kennebunk Elementary School to read Deb Landry’s "Yankee Go Home", and talk to the first grade classes about bullying. The kids were adorable, attentive, and so excited to tell me everything the know about standing up to bullies!
After the presentation, a young boy walked up to me and said, "Shannon...I like you. I hope you have a GREAT day!” Later on, I was told that the boy was known to be somewhat of a mischief-maker and it wasn’t common for him to be say such kind and sincere things to others out-of-the-blue…Moments like that are the ones that will stick with me forever. I hope that my chat with the Kennebunk Elementary students will have a positive impact on both he and his classmates. I also hope that I’ll be able to return to KES in the spring to kick off Wellness Week with a presentation on 5210 Let’s Go!
Yesterday, I spent time at the Dempsey Challenge in Lewiston, ME as a volunteer at the Zespri Kiwifruit booth. The Dempsey Challenge is put on annually in order to raise money for the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing at Central Maine Medical Center. There are fun runs, walk/runs and bicycle races going on all weekend, and lots of vendors and local health and wellness professionals are around, sharing health information and raising money for the cancer center. I had a chance to meet Patrick Dempsey and take a quick photo with him on Saturday, as he exited the stage following his kick-off speech. Patrick was quite a popular guy...and he had quite a security team haha.
It was a fun afternoon, and the Zespri Kiwifruit booth was a huge hit. It was run by Crossroads Youth Center, an organization that I've been involved with since elementary school. We're a part of the Zespri Kiwifruit for Kids Challenge right now and we are competing with 5 other charities from across the U.S. in the hopes of winning $10,000 from Zespri, which we will put toward the production of our film on childhood obesity. Visitors at the booth played the Kiwifruit for Kids game at www.kiwifruitforkids.com in order to earn points for the Northeast Region (Crossroads), and we gave away kiwifruit samples, t-shirts, hats, kiwifruit nutritional information, recipe cards and stickers. Hopefully the booth earned us a lot of supporters!
If Crossroads earns the most points in the game, we will win the $10,000 grand prize. Right now we're almost 12,000 points ahead, but the contest runs until the end of the month. Visit the website (www.kiwifruitforkids.com) to play for Crossroads yourself! Also visit http://www.zesprikiwi.com/ for fun kiwifruit facts and yummy recipes :)
If Crossroads earns the most points in the game, we will win the $10,000 grand prize. Right now we're almost 12,000 points ahead, but the contest runs until the end of the month. Visit the website (www.kiwifruitforkids.com) to play for Crossroads yourself! Also visit http://www.zesprikiwi.com/ for fun kiwifruit facts and yummy recipes :)
Tomorrow, I’ll be heading back to Orono to hit the books once again (boo hoo) and work on piecing together music for the Project Aware/Acadia Hospital Teen Mental Health Movie! If any artists have original music that they’d be willing to allow us to use in the film, please contact me via Facebook or email me at shannon.folsom@maine.edu :) I’m told that the first weekend of filming is going very well, and I can’t wait to spend a bit of time on the set next weekend! I was excited to see that the Bangor Daily News published an article about the project today at http://bangordailynews.com/2011/10/09/health/bangor-area-teens-write-direct-and-star-in-new-film-about-mental-health/ So exciting!
I’m off to squeeze a few more moments of relaxation out of my break!
Hopefully I won’t go another month without blogging EVER again (shame on me), but please don’t forget that you can always read about the exciting things that the Collegiate and High School girls are up to by visiting the Facebook pages or MHSA website!
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