Volunteer - Week 2

Volunteer – Week 2

I admit – I really missed last week with GOTR.  It felt like it was the first day all over again.  I will have to take attendance at my next meeting because I already forgot some of the girls’ names.

This session went very well.  We talked about healthy eating so our bodies can be strong.  I’ve been working on a Farm to School grant since last June.  Recently, I’ve been visiting classrooms to observe Farm to School lessons.  I’m amazed at how much the students know about eating healthy.  In a society where childhood obesity is on the rise, I had the impression society in general didn’t know or understand healthy eating habits.  I think some of this knowledge is a credit to the schools attempts at making nutrition education a priority in the classroom and in the cafeteria.

Pleasant Hill Elementary in Lexington One has done a wonderful job of rehabilitating their school menu.  Each month, SC Grown produce is served to the students at least twice during the month.  Not only is this produce whole and healthy, it’s also local and supports our farmers.  It also introduces students to fruits and vegetables they may not have had the opportunity to try at home.  In addition to the monthly SC Grown produce, Lexington One also has a week long “SC Grown Menu” where every produce item for the week is fresh and SC Grown.  This is usually in the Spring when fresh produce is abundant.  I attribute this effort by Lexington One to some of the great answers our GOTR students had during the healthy eating lesson. 

Not only did our GOTR students have a lot of knowledge about healthy eating, they also had great questions.  One of the most important aspects of teaching is to help students know how to ask questions.  Pleasant Hill Elementary is doing a great job of creating active learners in and out of the classroom.

After our lesson on healthy eating, we played a game to reinforce the concepts learned during the lesson.  The game was fun and a great warm-up for our running.  We ran for 30 minutes around the track.  After each lap, girls stopped for a sip of water and to think about different daily activities (on a worksheet) and their importance for a healthy lifestyle. 

I enjoyed working with the girls to help them keep a good pace around the track.  I know the excitement of starting at the finish line.  Who wants to go slow?  As an experienced runner, I still shoot out of the gate and run for the finish line.  The problem is the finish line is 3.15 miles away.  After about a minute or two, I slow my pace to my official goal pace for the race (usually 9:30-9:45/minute) and stay on course to finish in my goal time.  I ran with several different groups of girls.  I gave them encouragement and discussed the importance of breathing, good posture, and pacing.  I had them stay with me for a defined distance so they could see the difference in pacing.  We ran segments around the track to see the difference.  The girls were very responsive.  As with any group, you have some that are natural runners and others that are not.  I was never a natural runner.  Slowly, I am becoming more natural when I run.  I hope these girls will also find the natural runner inside of them.