Category Archives: Schools
1st Unity Night for Families at Olander Elementary= SUCCESS!
Despite the organizers’ hesitancy about the attendance of the first ever Unity Night at Olander Elementary in Fort Collins, Nick and his team were able to help a great crowd of kids and adults alike by providing them with empathy training to experience movement in a manual wheelchair, navigating through a room with a vision impairment, grocery shopping with a learning disability, and reading colors through the eyes of someone who may not perceive as the experiencers did.
Nick’s favorite part was watching the kids play the games and the awareness they gained from trying these experiences.
In particular, Nick liked watching the kids try to read the correct color on words that were colored a different color. This test, called the Stroop test, mimics a learning disability in which someone struggles with sorting information in their brain (selective attention). Because the brain is trained to read first, it is difficult for someone to name a color rather than read a word on page.
You can learn more about this test here:
https://www.cleverism.com/the-stroop-effect-naming-the-color-but-not-the-word
In this coin game, coins are given different values, and participants are asked to purchase small items using the coins, such as an apple. This game mimics the learning disability dyscalculia (“math dyslexia”), in which a person has difficulty with simple calculations, sequencing numbers, and telling time. You can read more about dyscalulia here: https://www.additudemag.com/what-is-dyscalculia-overview-and-symptom-breakdown/
The kids all did great being brave and trying new ways to think, speak, and move!
We look forward to working with students at Olander elementary again in the near future!
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!
Awesome in Action, Co 