Category Archives: children
Centennial High School Presentation
You bet your sweet little bippy, we’re back!
Nick was so excited to get back into a classroom and do a presentation for some awesome students at Centennial High School in Fort Collins, Colorado!
Blythe Johnson, a teacher at Centennial, reached out to Nick via his website, and asked him to come present to her classroom. Her class was doing a section on personal narratives and Nick was invited to come and share his story to her students.
Nick presented a blended version of his Ted X talk and his Why Try speech to the students, who Nick says were “awesome.”
Nick spoke for about 20 minutes about his life growing up in Africa, his hard work to achieve his dreams and goals, and his dedication to changing the perception of the differently abled. The presentation included pictures from Nick’s childhood in Africa, as well as pictures and videos of his various adaptive sporting events including waterskiing and white water rafting.
The students were amazing, receptive to Nick’s message, and asked meaningful questions at the end of the presentation. They also all gathered around Nick to show him pictures of their pets! Nick loved this, and was laughing so hard. One student had pet pigs, and Nick thought this was so funny.
The teacher, Blythe Johnson, was so kind to Nick, and so patient with Awesome in Action as we got back in the swing of in person presentations. It was obvious to Nick and his team that Blythe really makes a difference to her students and really cares about showing them new perspectives of the world.
Nick couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity to present to the class, and is so excited to get back into in person presenting.
Nick’s next event is Wicked West Expo at the Ranch Events Complex in Loveland, Colorado on April 15th and 16th where he will have a booth, and host a panel where he will give his Anyone Can be a Hero presentation. He hopes you will come and support him and check out the awesome exhibitors!
Kidchella – August 2022
On Saturday August 20th, 2022, Nick and the Awesome in Action team were lucky enough to participate in the first annual Kidchella event hosted by the City of Loveland.
This event featured live music and performances, vendors, games, activities and Awesome in Action’s booth.
Nick wanted to spread his message of inclusivity by creating adaptive carnival games that were accessible to people of all ability levels. Nick often finds that when he goes to carnivals and festivals, the games are not accessible for someone in a wheelchair or with limited mobility.
Nick and the team started off by planning what accessible games we would offer. After a lot of thought, the team came up with a fishing pond game, a “choose your door” game, and a sensory bin with prizes. Nick loved the idea of the fishing pond game and was so excited for this project!
The next step was to do some fundraising to help pay for the costs of materials for Kidchella. Thanks to very generous donors, Nick was able to raise funds to cover all of the expenses for the project including all of the materials for the games as well as prizes and candy.
Then the team had to purchase materials for the event.
Well, it turns out that being experts in ability awareness and advocacy didn’t translate into being handy with tools and building materials! Nick’s team, including his mom and dad, all put in a tremendous amount of effort to create the games. Nick and his job coach Liz spent an eventful day at Lowe’s purchasing plywood, hinges, and other supplies to create the games, and Nick thought it was very funny that Liz had no idea what she was doing in a hardware store!
But, true to Awesome in Action’s mission, we persevered and didn’t let our perceived limitations stop us from being successful!
Nick and the team created the games from scratch and were so proud of their teamwork and ingenuity.
The day of the event, Nick and the team set up their booth with the adaptive games, resources about services for those with different abilities in Larimer county, and Awesome in Action marketing materials. The wind couldn’t stop the team from having a great time.
The fishing pond game was a huge success, and there was a long line of kids waiting to play the entire day! The younger kids loved the sensory bin, and Nick had so much fun watching them dig around in the rice and find prizes.
Nick and the team offered adaptive “fishing poles” with large grips for those with limited mobility, using dowel rods and pool noodles. Talk about smart!
Overall the event was a huge success and proved that Nick and the Awesome in Action team truly face any new challenges with an open mind, sense of community and team work.
This event wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible donations from the community, and Nick can’t say “thank you” enough!
Nick wants to specifically thank his mom, dad, Carl, Audrey, Kelleen, Allee, and Anne for coming together and helping him create the games and man his booth. Nick would also like to thank Kerry Helke and her team with the City of Loveland for giving Awesome in Action the opportunity to participate!
We can’t wait for next year’s Kidchella festival!
Awesome in Action, Co 