This past week was one of the busiest weeks of community service for me since I started working with In the Arena. The week started off with 3 classes at the OTC that were an absolute handful followed by an awesome visit to Sunset Hills Elementary School. Although it was over an hour drive one way, it was well worth it. The kids of Sunset Hills "adopted" me while I was in Beijing and sent massive amounts of good luck cards and emails and really made me feel proud to have so many kids cheering for me, even though I had never met them... The idea was brought about by another former USA Olympian, Mary Andrews, who just also happened to be a javelin thrower as well. With Mary's help and creative efforts, I was able to return to a "welcome back" day at Sunset Hills and had the opportunity to speak the the entire school as a group as well as visit individual classrooms and see the kids one on one. Seeing how well the kids were behaved as I visited their classrooms reaffirmed my faith in the public school teaching system. These kids were the most polite and well behaved kids that I have been around and it was truly a pleasure to spend the day with them.
Now that I am back in training for the 2009 season, my community service projects will be again resume on a weekly basis and in some situations, a daily basis. Im looking forward to a busy but prosperous fall. Till next time,
Mike++
