CAREER DAY

So today I participated in Career Day at Brawerman Elementary School in Santa Monica. I was part of a four person panel that included myself, Richard Katz, a former State Assembly Speaker, Larry Scarpa, an environmental architect and Jorge Salcedo, head soccer coach at UCLA. Michelle Ruiz a former K-CBS anchorwoman was the moderator for the event.

Michelle, Richard, Me, Larry and Jorge


Michelle basically took turns asking each of us questions about our chosen careers - who or what inspired us, what goals we have, how we deal with failures, etc and at the end of the discussion, the 4th to 6th graders were allowed to ask us questions. I would have to say that it always impresses me just how thoughtful and perceptive and insightful kids of this age can be. They asked really interesting questions and it made for a great interaction.

As always with these types of events, whenever I pull out my measuring tape and show them just how far 22" 4' is, people are always shocked. It actually seems unbelievable to me too at times because somehow when you measure it indoors it just looks further than it does outside in a pit. I think it has something to do with the visual perspective.

Anyway, it was a great privilege and honor to talk to the kids and parents and it's humbling to know that perhaps I could have had a positive impact on just one of them in attendance today. That makes it all worth it!!!

On another front....NEW SHOES UPDATE!!!! Got these last week...another pair of comfortable heels! What's a girl to do??

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL VISIT

Yesterday morning, David and I went to Dr. Phillips Elementary School at the invitation of Betsy Riccardi, the wife of my coach Brooks Johnson. Betsy and I go waaay back. While Brooks was the head coach at Stanford while I was there, Betsy was actually my long jump coach. She saw me through the most trying of times to the most triumphant. From gaining too much weight, let's just say it was more than the freshman 15 (can you say junk in the trunk, with a capital J!), to losing the weight to being two-time NCAA champion. She and I would travel to meets, sometimes just the two of us and during that period of time we became more than coach and athlete, we became friends.

So last week when she called and asked whether David and I would be willing to come to her Elementary school to talk to a group of third graders, it was a done deal before she could even finish the question. We had a fantastic time! I hadn't spoken to that age group in quite a while, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Suffice to say, the experience superceded my expectations. The kids were really inquisitive and asked all kinds of questions.

Dave showed them how high the hurdle is that he runs over, I showed them how far my personal record is and they saw video of both us competing. They also did a presentation for us where they told us about the ancient Olympics and how it originated as war games - the javelin was used as a weapon, the long jump was so that the warriors could jump over moats that surrounded the castles, the shot put was used in the catapult, pole vaulting was used to get over surrounding walls, the marathon was so that information could be transported from one town to another. I learned something too, because I never knew all of this.

We signed quite a few autographs, ate lunch in the cafeteria and then had to escape, Michael Jackson style, in a rush because we started getting ambushed!! It was pretty funny. All in all, it was a good day. I didn't realize it at the time just how much energy kids require because when I got back home, I think I fell asleep on the couch within 5 minutes, LOL!

It was definitely my pleasure to help Betsy out in any way I could and should she ask again, next year or whenever, I would gladly render my services again.