Hoping to draw a crowd with free fun, Jessica Parker, the programs director for the Live Like Sam Foundation, said through interactive exhibits, sport clinics for kids and learning workshops for parents, they hope to inspire participants.
“We'll have tons of different exhibits,” she said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Wednesday. “Around 15 different exhibits, from different clubs that are student-led or different organizations around like what does kindness mean to you? Or talking about friendship or differences like kindness versus unkind scenarios, being a bystander versus an upstander and creating different kindness messages. We just wanted to create a space to help with this culture shift towards more acts of kindness in the schools.”
On Saturday, April 26 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Woodward will open its facility free of charge to offer free clinics including introduction to skateboarding and trampolining.
Three, 45-minute clinics for parents are also planned.
“One of them will be facilitated by myself, Live Like Sam, will be around digital wellness and building healthy tech habits and building kindness in that digital world,” Parker said. “Peace House is leading a healthy relationships101 little workshop for 30 to 45 minutes, and then Mountain Mediation will be leading multiple circle times where they're facilitating conversations for parents and their children around kindness and empathy.”
No registration is required and kids eat for free.
Parker also said registration for the foundation’s Thrive program ends April 30. It’s a free well-being skills program for sixth through 12th graders. The six-week virtual program has students meet once a week with peers to learn strategies for building healthy relationships and essential life skills.
“We're seeing reductions in symptoms of anxiety and symptoms of depression,” she said. “We're seeing increases in youth resilience and quality of life, and they're learning from each other, and they're sharing experiences and building that empathy as well.”
Parker said students will earn $60 for completing the program. Something new this year is the launch of Thrive 2.0. This is for Thrive program graduates so they can continue learning new well-being skills. Registration for that six-week program opens in May.
