Wrapping up elementary school visits

As part of a community outreach initiative, members of the Kent State volleyball program have visited elementary schools in the Kent City School District throughout the Fall. Friday marked the fourth and final visit for the Golden Flashes, as members of the team went to Longcoy Elementary to spend time with the students at the school.

Freshmen Payton Moore and Drew Norberg were along for three of the four school visits and reflected back on those experiences.

Payton Moore

For the last trip, they were having their Halloween parties. I started off in a classroom and was at a station where they did this experiment to show density. You pour cornstarch, water and other different liquids and then you see them rise to the top.

Every time that we’ve gone and walked into a classroom, they would get all excited. Usually Liz was with us and they’re not used to seeing a girl that tall. Whenever it would be time to leave, you could tell they didn’t want us to go. Like today, they were on the playground and were screaming “Bye!” at us. I think it just makes their day.

I think the schools were really happy to have us there too. They all told us, “We always get the male athletes. We never get the females athletes here.” So I think interacting with the students was especially important for the girls that like playing sports since we can relate to them better than guys can.

Drew Norberg

I started off today working with a PE class. We stretched with them and overlooked the activities they were doing and got to talk to them a little bit. Then we want into some of the classrooms and read to them. We read Oh, the Places You’ll Go! By Dr. Seuss and asked them questions about it.

Overall, I think it’s been a really good experience visiting with the students. The teachers are trying to get them to realize that playing a college sport is something that they can do someday and that their education is really important, along with their physical activity. I think its’ good for them to meet actual college athletes and hear from us that they can do it as well.