disABILITY Awareness Assembly/ Spina Bifida Awareness Month

Before school started in September, I attended a PTA board meeting where we discussed funds for the upcoming year. At that meeting, I made a suggestion that maybe we could use some of the funds to host an official disABILITY awareness assembly in October (in honor of disability awareness month). The new principle and PTA members all agreed and supported the idea 100% and soon that idea became a reality.

A few weeks ago, thanks to so many amazing people, we were able to have a wonderful two hour assembly where the children, staff and parents were uplifted and inspired. 

We were inspired to look deep inside ourselves and realize that we too, could do hard things.

That our goals and dreams could be our reality if we work hard enough.

We learned what really makes us beautiful is what is on the inside and how we treat others. 

We also learned that people who use wheelchairs are SUPER COOL and do SUPER COOL THINGS! 

Take a look...

 

Katie with two of her biggest heroes and role models, Chelsie Hill and Jennifer Kumiyama

Chelsie Hill is from the TV show Push Girls, Team Hotwheelz and the Walk and Roll Foundation 

Jennifer Kumiyama from Disney's "Aladdin, A Musical Spectacular," Ms. Wheelchair CA. 2010, the movie "The Sessions." 

We were also honored to have Push Girl Tiphany Adams 

with us as well! She was so sweet and it was awesome to meet her! 

Tiphany and Chelsie spoke to the kids and shared their story with them. Both Tiphany and Chelsie were involved in car accidents because of a drunk driver. They were able to share with the kids on an elementary school level the dangers of alcohol. The kids hung onto every word. 

After Tiphany and Chelsie spoke, they showed some awesome wheelchair dance moves and got the kids up dancing with them!! 

The kids were in heaven!! 

Because our auditorium is on the smaller side, we broke the assembly up into two groups. One group was outside dancing with the Push girls while the other group was being inspired by Jennifer and then we flip flopped. It worked out really well. 

Jennifer was amazing, as always. She shared her story and the children really connected with her. Then she let them ask her tons of questions and boy did they have questions! They loved hearing all about Disneyland and being on TV shows and in the movies! They loved hearing how she surfs (with Life Rolls On) and Skis (with ARC). They loved how she made her dreams of becoming a performer a reality. They LOVED that she sang "A Whole New World" to them. They loved her slide show that showed all the cool things that she does! 

Oh Jennifer, how we love and adore you! She is a dear friend of ours and we were SO excited that she could come to our school and spend the morning inspiring us with her talent and gift. Jennifer radiates with talent and the children picked up on that right away! Katie was so thrilled to have her at her school! 

Speaking of school... Jennifer is an Alumni of our school!!! She even had the famous Dr. R as her adaptive PE coach too!! Dr. R was SO thrilled to see Jennifer again and was even more thrilled that she remembered all the activities that she used to do as a student here! Such a sweet reunion!

 Also, A huge thank you to Dr. R for her endless support and help with putting on this special assembly!

Before the assembly started Katie was able to leave class a little early to come and greet our guests. She could hardly wait for this special day and was thrilled that the day had finally arrived (she had a serious count down going on)! Above: Katie and I with Jennifer and Chelsie and her awesome dad Jon, who drove all the way from Northern California to be a part of our assembly! What a gift it was. 

Katie seeing Chelsie again for the first time in over a year! She was so excited!! 

priceless moment! 

Katie had a gift that she gave all the girls, a necklace that read "Inspire" on it, made by the talented SoSoBella designs. 

Chelsie getting the assembly started with her cute personality and fun spirit! The kids adored her!! (Katie watching in awe)! 

The kids dancing (and mobbing Chelsie)! 

I tell you, these girls of mine were over the moon having their role models at their school!! 

      More fun pictures from the day...

So blessed to call these sweet ladies friends. So thankful for them in my life. 

After the assembly was over some of the kids got to stay and chat with our speakers. Our good friend Hallee met Jennifer this past Summer and an instant friendship was made. They were excited to see one another again and catch up. 

One of my favorite pictures of the day. As these sweet friends spoke, they held hands. 

Love them both so much. 

And just like that, the day was over.

In two short hours, we were changed for the better.

We listened, we laughed, we danced, we cried and we LEARNED.

We thank everyone who made this special day possible. Especially,

Jennifer Kumiyama

Chelsie Hill

Jon Hill

Tiphany Adams

Walk and Roll Foundation

Dr. R

SoSoBella Designs

PTA board members 

Dear Family and Friends 

and

Extended Stay America Hotel 

 Note: If your school is interested in having Team Hotwheelz come and perform, contact Jon from the Walk and Roll foundation. Team Hotwheelz is starting to do assemblies now and they are wonderful to work with and they put on an awesome performance while raising awareness as well!

Disability Awareness Assembly/ Spina Bifida Awareness Month

I've put this post off for a few days hoping that I could come up with the right words to describe the Disability awareness assembly, but to no avail. I wish there was a way to express the feelings I felt that day. It was overwhelming. My heart felt like it was going to burst! The morning came together perfectly and the assembly went better than I had ever dreamed. Dr. R (our adaptive PE coach) made magic happen and it was incredible! 

(picture above:  Rancho athletes)

The event could not have happened with out Dr. R, Rancho Los Amigos Rehab center, Calf. Children's services, Nick Vujicic and the awesome teachers and staff at the school. A HUGE thank you to each and every one of them!

It was an incredible experience to meet Nick Vujicic. 

Born without limbs but not without heart. 

 What an honor it was to meet him and hear his stories. 

 This was a two hour two part assembly. The first part was the wheelchair sports demonstration. 

 Bryant got in a chair too and helped. 

 I love that Rancho is willing to come to each of the kids (that are involved in their wheelchair sports program) school and do these demonstrations. The greatest part is that they highlight the athlete so they can be the star of the show (this time it was Katie and another sweet boy in the program).

above: Katie showing off how her sports wheelchair can spin fast and do quick moves! The kids loved it!!  

 The guys from Rancho (Rob and Tyler who are both paralyzed, yet amazing athletes), Katie and Bryant all did a mock basketball game. 

 The kids got so into it. Especially when Rob and Tyler would crash into each other or purposely fall out of their chair (for effect)!

 THEN it was time to put some TEACHERS in chairs and get them involved in the fun!! (standing behind: Emi-our awesome physical therapist, who also came to help and brought her team and extra equipment for us to use, the famous Dr. R, my mom, bry, and Sandy all came to support) 

Katie's teacher was one of the participants. She was awesome and Katie LOVED it!!!

The teachers got into it and gave it their all! It was awesome!

Great Game!!!

 Next it was the students turn to get in a chair and try and make a basket!

 Almost everyone got a turn to try a wheelchair and get a feeling for what it might be like to have to use one. 

 While the group was waiting to go into the auditorium Tyler had them in awe with some of his cool tricks! 

From what I heard there are only 9 people in the world today who were born without limbs. D is one of them and we are so blessed to have him at our school. D was the reason (and the answer to the "how in the world did you get him to come?") Nick came to our school to speak to us. 

above D's family, D and Nick. 

 Our awesome principle introducing Nick to the kids

 The kids held on to every word he spoke. Nick was not only inspirational, but funny and a polished speaker. 

Such a special day with such special people!

I hope we can continue this tradition each year and continue to raise awareness. After the assembly was over Katie went back to class and her classmates all high fived her. Then at lunch they came and asked her more questions about wheelchair sports. Her peers saw her in a different light. 

My hope and prayer is that the students remember the feelings that they had at the assembly. That they remember that people with disabilities are just people like them who like to have fun, laugh, make friends and most importantly be loved.