Saturday, April 27, 2013

Huskers for Hearing

    
     "You get out of it what you put into it." I've heard this saying often and  I wholeheartedly believe it. It defines my view on my Miss Kool-Aid Days reign - I've gotten a lot out of my reign because I have been willing to put a lot in to it.
I thought it was a little cold for shorts, but to each their own!
      I really felt this was true last Saturday. I showed up for the Huskers for Hearing 5k and quickly decided I would stay until the race started and then dart out to escape the frosty cold of the morning. As quickly as the thought crossed my mind, it was gone. I was in this for the long, cold morning.
     I am so thankful I made that decision. It was absolutely phenomenal to be able to assist people who will be helping others avoid and deal with hearing loss!
     The walk was put on by the audiology students at UNL and the funds went to support Hear U - an organization that works to provide hearing aids for children who can't otherwise afford them. The students did a fantastic job and had over 100 participants for their first ever 5k fundraiser!
     While at the fundraiser, I got to meet several interesting people and do some fun things! First of all, I met Jolene - a lovely mannequin with the ability to report the decibel level of your iPod and the amount of time you would have to listen for it to affect your hearing. Anything above 80-85decibels is harmful to your hearing and I would be willing to bet a lot of people listen to their music at a louder volume! I would love to take this out on some school visits in the Fall!
     I also got to meet a man who reinforced the importance of sharing my story. This man experienced the exact same thing that happened to me and he lost the hearing in one ear due to a virus - the difference is that he knows audiologists who got him on steroids immediately. He talked to me about how difficult it was for him when he couldn't hear at first and about thankful he has been since his hearing has started coming back (under the influence of the steroids). One of the audiologists even added that it is all too common for doctors to insist nothing is wrong and for people to experience more loss because of this. If I can help people learn the warning signs, they can get it taken care of and save their hearing, just like this man did.
The first runner to cross the finish line!
 
     Besides getting to meet all of these wonderful people though, I was also able to do some fun things. I had the opportunity to help with registration, talk on a blow horn, help clean up, and most importantly, cheer on the runners. They came in off a long race and a long stretch, so I was able to stand at the last curve and support them as they finished the race. You haven't seen a truly grateful smile until you've seen the smile of someone who is about to finish a race!
       Overall, I was extremely thankful for this experience. I look forward to working with the audiology department and Hear U to make  an impact on the issue of hearing loss in the state of Nebraska!

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Papillion La Vista High School - For Real!

     This past Friday I finally made it to Papillion La Vista High School to talk to students about hearing loss before prom! I assumed my visit would be very similar to my visit to Papio South the week before, so I prepared my things in the same way.
    When I got to the school, I was able to set up all of my information at a table, but it was in the commons area rather than the lunch room.
    Due to the setup, I remained at the table to pass out information, rather than walking around. I was surprised by how many students stopped by to chat with me without me having to pull them over. So many people stopped by to chat in fact, that I actually ran out of Kool-Aid and ear plugs after the first of three lunches!
    This meant that I spent the second and third lunches approaching groups of students as they waited to head back to class. I feel that I reached so many students at Papillion La Vista because they were interested and willing to come chat with me, but also because I walked around and engaged a lot of them. At one point, in order to get my message out, I even walked into the center of a rather large group and told them all to listen up. Not only were the students willing to listen, but they even asked a lot of questions! It was great to see students who were so friendly and engaged.
    Overall, I would say the visit was a success and I feel so blessed that they were willing to have me come out and talk to the students before prom! I even met a young girl who inspired me. She approached me and without saying anything, looked over my board. I started explaining why I was there and as I finished up, she started to gesture. Excitedly I asked if she knew sign language. Her response confused me at first - she lifted her glove and pointed her palm at me. Then I noticed it read "Day of Silence." This young girl was pledging to remain silent for a day in honor of gay, bi, and transgender people who have come to harm.
    Her confidence and passion warmed my heart - it always makes me happy to meet people who are kind and have love in their hearts!

Sunday, April 14, 2013

School Visits and Swimming

     What a week this has been! Friday I was excited to have the opportunity to attend Papillion La Vista High School to speak to students about hearing loss before their prom.
     I arrived approximately 10 minutes before the first lunch block was supposed to begin. After signing in, a few ladies helped me set up a table by the cafeteria. I stood back for a few minutes and watched the teens quickly fill the hallways before I decided my best plan of attack was to make my way around to all of the lunch tables in the cafeteria.
   I very quickly decided that I really like this approach to high school visits. While it is great to get the practice standing up in front of a group of students in a formal classroom setting to speak to them about hearing loss, setting up a table and visiting over lunch time has a lot of great benefits! Walking around allowed me to address more students than if I had only visited one or two classes. It also allowed me to practice talking to people about my platform more than once and students were very forgiving if I made a mistake. Plus, if I am looking for more of a challenge, lunchtime certainly gave me that added challenge. While all of the students were respectful and kind, they were more in their natural environment rather than their controlled classroom environment where they are forced to behave well.
    Overall I was very impressed with the students at the school and I hope that I made as big of an impact on the students as I felt I did.
    After visiting with students for an hour and a half, I went to the counselors office to thank them for helping me set up my school visit. I asked to speak with Ms. Isenhart. The counselor sat there for a second before asking "Ms. Isenhart at PLHS?" After a brief second of thinking, I realized that I had just spent the last hour and a half speaking with the students at Papillion La Vista South High School about hearing loss, rather than the students at Papillion La Vista High School!
   For those of you unfamiliar with the area, there is a Papillion La Vista High School that has been around for a long time, and a newer Papillion La Vista South High School that is fairly new.
    As embarrassed as I was about the mistake, I was incredibly thankful to counselors at both schools for being so understanding and forgiving! I apologized to and thanked the Papillion La Vista South counselors for letting me visit and apologized profusely to the Papillion La Vista high school counselors, who were kind enough to allow me to reschedule the school visit.

   After this quite memorable appearance, I was able to make another appearance on Saturday. Saturday afternoon I was honored to join MRP for a swimming outing. I arrived at Montclair community center expecting to mostly just walk around and supervise. I did wear a swimsuit just in case though. It's a good thing too, because I ended up spending nearly the entire time in the pool with the kids. I had the most wonderful time playing with the kids! We were able to play catch and volleyball and move around the pool as we went. I have to admit, my poor sports skills sent the kids chasing the ball quite a bit, but they were incredibly good sports about it!
   At one point while waiting for the ball though, I felt water splashing consistently across my back. I turned around to find my friend Jorge from past events splashing me! I realized at this point how thankful I am to be a part of an organization that I believe in so strongly. When I joined the group, I never thought I would make such strong connections with the kids in the program, but they have truly made my year as Miss Kool-Aid Days a wonderful one and it makes me so happy knowing I get to join them once a month and have fun!
   I had a great time and I could tell the kids were enjoying themselves immensely as well! It was so nice to sneak away from this persistent winter momentarily and enjoy something so fun and relaxing!
   After this exciting afternoon, I had to run off to one last event for the weekend! Each year Sue's Stepperette's hosts a spaghetti dinner and auction to raise money for props and our trip to worlds. It was quite the event this year and I was so happy that I was able to spend it enjoying the company of great family and friends!

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Expiring Earbuds

     This morning I had the pleasure of setting up a table in Ralston High School and speaking to students as they came in about hearing loss prevention. Considering 1 in 5 teens have hearing loss and that number is rising thanks to more loud noise and earbuds, I thought I needed to get to the teens before they were exposed to the high decibel music at prom!
 
     I prepared a board with valuable information, printed handouts, and brought along earplugs and Kool-Aid singles to hand out. Some kids approached simply because they were interested, some I had to coax into stopping by, and some stopped by for the free Kool-Aid.
     The Kool-Aid ended up being extremely helpful in pulling kids in and every kid who wanted the Kool-Aid agreed to stick around and listen to what I had to say in order to earn Kool-Aid!
     I felt like I reached a lot of kids who admitted that they listened to loud music, and although they knew the dangers, they didn't think it would happen to them. I feel it is essential for me to personally get out and speak to teens because I was just like them when it happened to me - and I couldn't do anything to prevent it. But they can. By gaining knowledge about hearing loss and taking steps to avoid it, people can save their own hearing and the social connections that would become strained through hearing loss.
     I was even excited to have students ask if they could take ear plugs for loud environments such as shop class - it's always good to see students take my message seriously!
     The one bad part of the visit - it really hit me how many teens wear earbuds! In my work as Miss Kool-Aid Days (and potentially Miss Nebraska or Miss America), I fully expect to get pressure from companies that produce earbuds; they are not going to like the fact that I am pushing students to give up earbuds and use headphones instead. They can be upset though because it is for the good of those who listen to music and I will continue to push on to prevent noise induced hearing loss!
     I want to thank Mr. Smith for allowing me to visit; it was wonderful to talk to these kids at a time when this topic is especially relevant in the student's lives.