A lot has happened since I've updated this blog! We've had tons of amazing feedback with the kids we have had so far. The boys that came to experience their game day, which was at a boys basketball game, had a great time. According to their parents it was "the best night of their life." The basketball boys also really enjoyed them there and it didn't really seem to interfere with their pregame rituals. With the word of this project being more publicly known by other community families, we've had people ask us how their kid can get the chance to have their game day experience! So, I emailed the principals of the elementary's again, asking them to send in more nomination forms, and to notify all the teachers again! We haven't decided if we will contact people who have personally asked us about it. We really want it to be through the teachers only, we will discuss more on what we would like to do.
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Winter season has arrived!! Side note our football team won state, so huge congrats to those boys! Furthermore, we are now back and running! So far all the texts, and emails have been sent out and we have multiple responses. With several dates set we now wait for those games to arrive. All the nomination forms were for boys basketball and so I talked with two basketball players who happen to be my partners and they showed me the best games the kids should come to. In the photo gallery I will show texts from the guardians to show how exactly we approached and reached out. Hoping to receive some more to get more kids involved and more chances for our teams to connect with our youth. As the dates for the kids become closer we will send out official details for the guardians.
As the Football team keeps advancing we are currently in a 'dead period' of our project. Right now we have emails sent out to give the guardians a heads up in regards of their child. All the winter coaches have been notified of our project and are all on board. Hopefully we now get all the guardians on board to keep our project rolling! As of now what we are doing is just coming up with new ideas to make the project bigger and better. Also we are trying to figure out what dates work best for the kids to come! With small details coming in play slowly but surely we will start having kids again. In the meanwhile we are also helping out with our other classmates and their projects. We wish our football team best of luck and continue to grow in our project.
Winter Season!!
Moving forward to the winter session, closing with Cole getting in a football practice before the start of sectionals (Pictures in the Gallery). We already have 6 nomination forms for boys basketball. Fortunately for us, our boys basketball is pushed back due to the fact that our football team is doing well in tournament time. However, this gives us more time to prepare for the upcoming winter sports. As soon as the football season ends we will then start setting up dates and details for our next kids! Furthermore, we have sent out emails to the guardians of the child nominated giving them a heads up that their child has been selected for their game day experience! We hope they all work out and have a good time! Putting it into action!
Receiving great feedback and nomination form after nomination form, some lucky kids got their game day experience! In order to stay organized Maximus, Dawson and I have set up a google sheets. The sheets shows who the kid is with their information, what sport, the date they will experience their game day, and if its pending or completed. So far we have had eight boys go to a football game (pictures in the photo gallery) and one girl help with the cheerleaders. Unfortunately due to some complications with seasons ending and renovations to our athletic facilities, two of the students couldn't live their first sport choice experience. However, with winter sport seasons rolling around they can still live out a different sport of their choice. With that being said we need to create a new nomination form to fit the winter athletic season. We are very excited to continue this project into the next phase of sports! Thank you fall coaches and athletes for all you did! When signing up for this class we had to decide on what project we would want to tackle, whether it be a shorter project or a year long project. The project had to tie both into our interests and a way to benefit our community along with it. As a whole class we decided to brainstorm ideas not just for ourselves but each other. We then looked at interests we had in common with our classmates. I actually thought of an idea that could tie my biggest passion to a project. I presented a random thought to the class and luckily two other big athletes caught on to the proposal and added their ideas to the project as well. Dawson, Maximus and I soon became the team to tackle this project.
We were different ideas of what we wanted to accomplish with this project. Come to find out, one of our athletic directors actually had a similar idea. After meeting and collaborating with him, we began to get the ball rolling! We finalized what we wanted to do with the project and then presented our idea to our classmates to get more feedback. Everyone in the class loved the project and provided us with even more ideas to incorporate in our project. Soon after we had to present our project to the higher ups in our school system. It got approved with even more ideas on what we could do to make this project really impactful for the kids in our community. We also presented the idea to all of the coaches and thankfully they were all very interested in having the kids tag along. Now it was time to take flight in presenting our project to the different schools in our district. Choosing elementary schools only, we headed off. We met with the elementary school staffs. The teachers and counselors were all on board and excited to see how this project would unfold for their students. At the end of the meeting we passed out nomination forms for the teachers to nominate the kids they think would be the most in need of a role model as well as a meaningful experience. I'm pretty positive we actually received nomination forms from the counselor and a few teachers that same day. The nomination forms gave us the information we needed in order to contact the parents of the kids. Once we figure out who the child is and what exactly they would want to do, we email the family to see if they would be interested in having their child get the game day experience. At this point in our project we've had two students live out their experience! Multiple other forms have been approved and sent our way for the game day experience. Now you may be wondering what this project includes. This project gives the nominated student the option to attend a game, a practice, or both. The student gets to pick what sport they would like to attend. On game night, the student gets to join with the team and get the feel of being a student athlete at New Palestine High School. They spend time with the players and tour the facilities and lockerroom. They get announced at the game or practice and they receive a care package. The game would be more of a rewarding experience and the practice would be a little more personal for the child. We feel like we are off to a successful and smooth start! We are honored to give students the game day experience they deserve! |
nomination formLink to form: “a_day_with_the_dragons”.pdf |