"Baby Steps to Good Health"

On Wednesday we went to Munroe and Knapp Elementary Schools and on Thursday we went to Castro Elementary School to implement our plan. The events at all three schools were a big success. We

decorated the walking area with posters that had healthy messages on them and balloons. We also placed signs around the walking area that had the number of steps walked up to that point. The kids were really excited to participate in this event. A lot of kids walked and even some friendly competition of who could run the most laps around the field was created. Some of the kids even wanted to help decorate and count how many kids had walked. And of course, we gave them a healthy snack of apples, whole wheat crackers, and water. It was so exciting to see the kids swarming to the table to get these snacks! At the end of the event, we handed out a trophy to the class who had the largest percentage of participants. The trophy was a pair of baby sneakers attached to a plaque with the phrase "Baby Steps to Good Health" written on it. Overall, all three events were very successful and a lot of fun to be involved in with the kids.

The Event is Almost Here!

After much research and preparation, we will finally get to implement our plan tomorrow. Tomorrow we will be encouraging as many kids as we can to be active whether walking to school or doing a fun activity after arriving at school. We have many fun things planned. We have a lot of posters to hang up around the playground to encourage healthy habits as well as informational material to give to any parents who might attend. We will have special prizes for the kids and of course we will get to play with them and get them excited about moving! Kids of Westwood, get ready for some fun!

The Finale

On Friday, April 10 we were introduced to our final project. Obesity is a growing problem among elementary children. Our job is to get as many kids as we can to walk to school for three different elementary schools. We are working mainly with Live WEll Colorado and specifically the Westwood community. They already have a program in place called Walking Wednesdays or Trotting Thursdays. Our job is to improve these programs and get as many children as we can to participate. This project was introduced to us at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. While we were there, we got the opportunity to see the new Expedition Health exhibit. This is a really cool exhibit that even includes a spot to participate in simple science experiments. Being a huge fan of science, I had a lot of fun. Lots of work is definitely ahead, but I think this will be a fun project to complete.

What I Learned from Project 3

This project with CHFA was a very interesting and informative project. I have some financial knowledge and know how the home buying process works. I never knew a lot about foreclosure, though. There are so many details that I learned you really need to be well informed before you ever start your home search. I also learned that if you do get into trouble there are a plethora of resources available which if ultilized can actually turn around a situation and prevent a foreclosure from happening. I did a lot of the demographic research and it was interesting to study the data and find the trends that can posibly cause high amounts of foreclosures in a particular area. Overall, this project was a great way to learn about something that I will most likely do in my lifetime, buy a house. I ultimately learned that the key to preventing foreclosure is to be well educated before you ever start that home search.

CHFA

For project 3, we are working with CHFA to propose a plan to inform more people about the options available to them if they face foreclosure. We are working with two specific zip codes in Parker that have a high rate of NEDs (Notice of Election and Demand which means that the pending foreclosure is public information). In both of these zip codes, the people have been informed through different means about the Foreclosure Hotline but are not responding that we can tell. Our job is to find a creative way to get these people informed and actually use the hotline to prevent their foreclosure. We must explore all possible ways come up with a report about our findings. This is a very relavent topic and one in which I think I will gain a lot of useful information.

Ecycle Event

Today (March 7) was the ecycle event. Wow! What a turnout! I expected to see around 250 cars pass through today. Instead, we had such a response that the event shut down two and a half hours early because we could not handle any more electronics. It was so nice to see people responsibly disposing of their electronics. Today, a lot of waste was kept out of landfills. I never expected such a turn out!

Ecycle!

On Friday February 13, we were introduced to our second project. This project is all about ecycling! Basically, we are working with Comcast to hold an ecycling (recycling of electronics such as tvs) drive. Each team has to come up with creative ways to get people to come to their event mainly using social media outlets. For this project we were divided into two teams: girls against guys. My team consists of Chantay, Rachael and I better known as The Triple Threat! We will be holding our ecycling drive on March 7 from 7AM-noon at Southwest Plaza down in Littleton. Did you know e-waste does not decompose but instead releases chemicals such as lead and mercury which could potentially end up in our soil and ground water! Ecycling is very important so bring your unwanted electronics to Southwest Plaza on March 7.