Starstruck

I've seen my fair share of famous people since moving to Nashville. I go to church with one of my all-time favorite singers (he is a lesser known artist, but still famous to me). I even talked to Connie Britton briefly on a plane. But today was by far one of the coolest "celebrity moments" I've had since moving here, for two reasons. One, it was more of an "experience" than just a brief moment. And two, because I got to experience it with my kids, and they were absolutely in heaven.

The best part? I didn't even know who the guy was until yesterday afternoon.

(You probably won't know who it is either, but humor me here.)

One of our PE/Social Studies teachers has done some really awesome things for our school revolving around technology, including piloting an internet-based fitness program called Go Noodle. Drawing from systems like Wii, Go Noodle is a program that is meant to provide students with quick "brain break" physical activities to help "move the body, invigorate the mind". Each individual training program is "coached" by an Olympic athlete, who pops up on the screen, teaches you a few stretches and techniques, and then coaches you through an athletic competition. (You can see what I mean here.) One of the coaches is Olympic Gold Medalist track & field star Shawn Crawford.

"Shawn who?", you say? But that's besides the point. I said Olympic Gold Medalist. He won a gold at the 2004 Olympics and a silver at the 2008 Olympics, although he recently retired. Below is a screen shot from the Go Noodle website.

Go Noodle is a new company, and somehow we had been chosen as one of very few schools to pilot the program. After several months of using it as a random P.E. activity, the company decided to send representatives to our school to see the program in action - and one of those representatives was Shawn Crawford himself!

Lucky for me, it all happened during my morning planning period, so I got to watch my homeroom babies' star-struck faces as an Olympic athlete walked into our room, then run in place while both the virtual and the real Shawn Crawford coached them through "running" a 200 meter race. He was very charismatic, cracking jokes and acting silly, and the kids absolutely loved it. I have to say, even though I had no idea who the man was, I was impressed with his presence and his confidence, and it was hilarious to watch 28 middle school kids running in place with shy smiles on their faces, awestruck by having a celebrity an arm's length away. He even passed out sweatbands (which they wore proudly the rest of the day) and autographed cards to each kid.

With Spring Break only a few days away, it feels like this week is just creeping along. This was a great pick-me-up in the middle of a really long week. Two days of practice TCAP testing, and then freedom. It can't come too soon.