I just got back from Wyoming (a small town in Illinois, not the state). Kim and I put on a bevy of workshops for the elementary schools as a kickoff for their Kim & Jason FUNdraising campaign. We had eight total sessions over the course of two days, from kindergarten all the way up to fifth grade. Even though we didn’t put in all that much time, I sure am beat. And I have even more respect for the daily life of a teacher. The first day was the fourth and fifth graders, an age group I’m quite used to working with. As far as the second day, all I can say is…thank God Kim was there. Being in front of 65 kindergartners is almost as intimidating as standing at the edge of a cliff with an old parachute sewn together by a one-handed grandmother. I take that back, I think I’d rather take my chances with the parachute. Watching Kim in action was like watching Bill Parcells coach the Dallas Cowboys. She had such command and presence, and instant respect from the kids. It was a thing of beauty. She tried to tell me later that I could’ve done just as well, which was like hearing Sammy Sosa tell someone that anyone could hit a home run off of the Wrigley Field scoreboard. Sure, I could have used the same words, but I guarantee you the results would have been much different. The fire department would still be trying to sort things out. Some highlights included one of the kids responding to the question “What is a fundraiser?” with, “It’s when you put your glasses on.” It was then that I was able to confirm that kindergartners will raise their hand for any question, and only when called upon do they start to think of an answer. We also signed about 150 autographs, which I’m sure will be selling for a pretty penny on eBay. And I mean literally, a pretty penny. So all in all, we had a great time. It was fun to get out and connect with and encourage the kids. I think we really impacted some of them, in at least a small way. So Kim carried the load with the kindergartners, but we pretty much tag-teamed the other presentations. It was pretty exciting once we really got on a roll, almost like we’d been doing it for years. Over the course of the trip, I got the feeling that we will be.
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