RPTA Community Recreation Programs

2-Ball Tournament

2018-05-08T12:41:00.000-05:00

On Friday May 4, 2018 Shakeno Hullum, Eryk Preston, Jimmiria Porter, and Kamren Williams put on a 2-Ball Tournament. Our group hosted this event in the University Student Recreation Center. The event is a 3 point shooting contest with a partner. There were 3 rounds of the game of 2 ball, leaving one team to be the winners. Winners won a prize of $80($40 a piece). We started the event by introducing ourselves and explaining the event we were hosting. We split the teams up and explained the directions again and the the games began. The event was very successful. Everyone came out and enjoyed a fun and meaningful leisure experience. We would like to thank the Student Recreation Center for allowing us to have a place to host our program. We would also like to thank all of our participants for making this program a success and all the more meaningful!

Glow in The Dark Frisbee Golf

2018-05-08T11:47:00.001-05:00

On Friday April 20th, 2018 Justin Beer, Matthew Bolt, Drew Tomlinson, and Wyatt Meyer hosted a Glow in The Dark Frisbee Golf Event. We as students of Western Illinois partnered with the Campus Recreation Center as well as Macomb's YMCA. The event consisted of 9 hole Frisbee Golf at Sipolt Memorial Frisbee Golf Course on Campus, but with a twist, The event was held after dark with LED light up Frisbees and the course was lit with glow sticks and LED lights. Each hole was also covered in glow sticks to ensure visibility after dark. The event participation was less than desired, however those who came had a great time. We had good feedback from our participants who had never played Frisbee golf, let alone after dark. We wanted to provide a family oriented event that was free to the public that incorporated all ages. We were successful in doing so.
We also had a few mini games to expand our event and to keep people entertained. We held a "Bucket Toss" and a "Farthest Throw" game. They were both very successful and we gave out prizes and candy to all participants.

We would like to say a special thank you to the WIU Campus Recreation Department for allowing us to use the Sipolt Memorial Frisbee Golf Course. Without the use of the course we would have been unable to put on the event. We are very grateful for their cooperation with us.

We would also like to thank the Macomb YMCA and TJ Depoy. We were able to reach a greater market of participants through Macomb YMCA and TJ allowed us to advertise to his after school students more then once. We are very grateful for his extra time and effort to make our event as good as it was.

We would also like to thank all who came out to our event and supported us. We hope we provided a fun environment and greatly appreciate your attendance!

Team EERA "Hero Run 5k"

2018-05-07T16:45:00.001-05:00

On Saturday, April 21 and April 28, 2018, Sean Dowling, Erionna Jefferson, Alex Payne, and Erin Rittenhouse hosted the Hero Run 5k.

Our themed 5k invited participants to come dressed as their favorite/personal heroes and also to run for a good cause. The "good cause" they would be running for was to support a local food pantry called Loaves and Fishes. All proceeds and donations would go directly to their organization to help provide meals to those who are less fortunate in the community.

The event was held at Spring Lake Park in Macomb, IL at 9:30am. The director, Ryan Hanson, provided us with the space and equipment that already had for the Macomb high school cross country team.

The event was supported by Hyvee who provide fruit and water for those who participated, as well as, the local YMCA and Max & Mollie's who provided gift cards for runners who placed in their age bracket.

While on both that the event was hosted their were other 5k's that were also being hosted so unfortunately did not get the participation that were hoping for. All the same, we would like to give credit and thanks to all those that helped and supported our event!

Special Needs Beauty Pageant

2018-05-06T16:32:00.002-05:00

Special Needs Beauty Pageant

On April 28th, 2018, Maddie McCormick, Kelsey O'Connor, Dajah Russell, Joy Hyacinthe, and Miyu Araki hosted the Enchanted Pageant.

The Enchanted Pageant was a beauty pageant for women with special needs. It was an original event we created that was hosted in partnership with the McDonough County Special Recreation Association (MCSRA). It is thanks to all the MCSRA's amazing help and insight that this event was able to happen!

The participants of the Enchanted Pageant were Carol, Heather, and Destiny. The women did a group dance, had individual talent portions, and individual bio sections where they could parade their outfits while the emcee talked about them. The emcee for the event was Gracie Richardson - the reigning fair queen of Morgan County.

The pageant was held at Lakeview Nature Center outside of Macomb, Illinois. It was a beautiful day outside with the sun shining, and a beautiful day inside with flowers and decorations galore. The contestants were nervous at first, but soon became very comfortable and confident with everyone cheering them on. They got really into the dancing and even answered questions about themselves in front of the crowd. Afterwards all three got crowned and got their pictures taken which really boosted their self esteem. A light reception followed to celebrate their beauty.

Overall, the event was very small but very successful. With more promotion starting at an earlier time, this event cold grow into a larger and better event. Size or not, the women enjoyed themselves and grew in their confidence.

Left to right: Destiny, Heather, and Carol

Left to right: Maddie, Miyu, Destiny, Heather, Joy
Carol, Kelsey, Dajah, Gracie

Science of Baking

2018-05-04T13:32:00.001-05:00

Science of Baking!

On Tuesday April 17th, 2018 students from Dr. Schlag’s RPTA 230 Leadership class (Molly O'Brien, Morgan Benbow-Niemier, Sara Butzow and Lindsey Bohl) hosted a program for the Edison Elementary fourth graders (and some siblings) at Knoblauch Demonstration kitchen located at Western Illinois University and partnered with the Department of Dietetics, Fashion Merchandising & Hospitality. We started off with welcoming our participants, introducing ourselves and worked our way into an ice-breaker of “Would You Rather?” led by Sara Butzow. Our participants knew each other from school and extracurricular activities. We had six wonderful participants who were enthusiastic and eager to be participating in our program. The participants ranged from 1st to 5th grade. Our night consisted of making muffins, eating pizza and making some messy slime. We concluded our program with making slime since we knew it would be messy. The children loved it, and hearing their laughter and seeing their smiling faces warmed our hearts.

We would like to thank Principal Erin Sullivan from Edison Elementary school for getting our flyers approved and handing them out for us and also a thank you to Ms. Jill Cassady from the Dietetics, Fashion Merchandising and Hospitality Department at Western Illinois University for allowing us to host our program in her demonstration kitchen. We would like to thank our professor, Dr. Schlag, which without him, we wouldn’t have been able to have this experience.

Field Day 2018

2018-04-24T20:41:00.001-05:00

On April 15th 2018 RPTA 230 Students Jessica Dye, Jordan Huskey, Omar Ramirez and Francisco Martinez held their event Field Day 2018!

Field Day 2018!

The event was held at Washington Street gym in Macomb Illinois. the original location was Veteran''s Park also in Macomb Illinois but due to bad weather we moved our event to be held inside rather than outside.

The purpose of our field day event was to provide the opportunity for people to come together. Work on team building, communication and mentor young adults into leaders at our field day event. We had different games from Frisbee, Potato Sacks, Bubbles Sticks just to name a few. The event was great and so much fun. We had a great turnout of children and young adults. Approximately 20 participants participated at our event Overall, our field day event turned out to be a success. There were a lot of happy faces and the participants loved all of the games. This was a great event that our group was happy to have put on for the Macomb Community.

A huge thank you! to Taylor Hanneman from the Macomb park district and Kayla Morphey from the McDonough County Special Recreation Association, we would also like to thank the Macomb Junior High School for letting us use their facility. Thank you yo everyone that helped make this event possible. Our team was truly thankful to put on this event on for the Macomb Community!!

Macomb Kid's Chopped Competition

2017-12-11T10:44:00.000-06:00

Hosted by RPTA 428 Saucy Seniors Group in partner with Macomb High School's WACS instructor, Jill Cassady. The Saucy Seniors include Joey Billeter, Jessa Coker, Taylor Hanneman, and Erin Sullivan. A huge thank you to Jill and the DFMH Department at WIU, as well as our judges and participants for helping make this event possible!

Kid's Chopped

What - This event was a spin off of Food Network's Chopped. Groups of 3-4 students competed in a one round cooking contest to test their culinary talents and showcase their knowledge and creativity in the kitchen. Each group had to create two dishes using three secret ingredients for each. The appetizer dish had to include crescent rolls, ground turkey, and stuffing, and the dessert dish required the use of cranberry sauce, chocolate chips, and graham crackers. The groups were given 1.5 hours to create and present both dishes to the judges. From there, they were ranked 1-4 on creativity, taste, and presentation and points were added to determine a winner.

Who - Macomb High School WACS students were our target audience. Participants also included students from WIU dietetics classes. Judges for the competition were the WACS instructor Jill Cassady and two volunteers from the community.

Where - The contest was hosted in the Knoblauch kitchen on WIU's campus. This allowed each group to have its own kitchen with access to cooking equipment and a variety of basic ingredients.

When - Our event took place on November 16, 2017. Due to Thanksgiving being the upcoming holiday at the time, we geared our secret ingredients towards this theme. We hoped this would inspire the students as well as ourselves to think creatively while preparing leftover Thanksgiving foods!

Why - We selected this as our event as a way to encourage Macomb's youth to get creative in the kitchen. The event required students to think outside the box, manage time, and work as a team. Overall, we found Kid's Chopped to be a success! The students' instructor felt it was a good way for individuals to gain confidence in the kitchen and practice the skills learned in class.

Color Wars 2017

2017-12-10T20:43:00.000-06:00

On November 18, 2017, Tyler Lafferty, Nadia Saracco, Brady Long, and Dwayne Marshall implemented a new event called Color Wars. This event consisted of a fun and unique game night for the local middle school in Macomb, IL. The cost to attend the event was an unwrapped gift to donate to The Center for Youth and Family Solutions for underprivileged youth. The event had 22 participants and raised over 40 gifts that consisted of clothes, toys, blankets, and makeup to help those this holiday season.

Color Wars turned out to be a success! The kids loved all of the games, food, and prizes and look forward to the event in years to come. Many of the kids expressed to our group members what an amazing time they had and hope to participate again next year. We were able to provide the kids with a fun night and help those in need.

We would like to thank Macomb Junior High School for letting us use their facility, as well as The Center for Youth and Family Solutions for partnering with us. We would also like to thank Papa John's Pizza, Domino's Pizza, Buffalo Wild Wings, Larry A's Pizza, Italian Express, Pizza Hut, and Jimmy John's for their generous donations for making this event possible. With their kindness, we were able to provide the kids with food and prizes for attending this wonderful event.

Turkey Fest 2017

2017-12-10T19:28:00.003-06:00

Ashley Black, Bria Thurman, Jenica Ball, and Nick Wiza worked in partnership with the youth housed at The Sylvia Center in Chicago, Illinois. On November 18th, we hosted games and crafts during a program called Turkey Fest.

Our main goal was to facilitate a program rich in creativity, entertainment, and encouragement for the children at The Sylvia Center. We were inviting, entertaining, supportive, and gave them an opportunity to grow.

Turkey Fest had over 35 children attend, along with, several parents and volunteers. We began our event by handing out name tags and setting up a festive fall photo booth that everyone enjoyed getting their pictures taken at. The children created works of art with all sorts of craft supplies and the use of their own imaginations. We then broke everyone up into teams and played several games where they practiced good sportsmanship conduct and team building skills. After this, we served snacks and gave out a lot of gifts as a way of expressing our gratitude.

The Sylvia Center said they heard amazing comments about Turkey Fest. The kids said they had a lot of fun and that they appreciated us and our event.

We would like to thank The Sylvia Center staff, children, parents, and volunteers that made this event such a success! We are fortunate to have such great people to work and play with!

Kidz Karnival Extravaganza: The Kraziest Show On Earth!

2017-12-10T18:30:00.002-06:00

Team Pico De Gato, consisting of Debriana Ross, Cierrae Caver, Kenya Berkley, and Katyln
Tomasetti, created a Youth Karnival Extravaganza for the age groups of K-6th grade.

Partnering with the YMCA of McDonough County allowed us to market to a very large number of
families and volunteers. We want to give a special thank you to our volunteers along with the YMCA and TJ Depoy (Director of Youth Services). Through them, we were provided with all of the necessary equipment we needed to run our program successfully. We would also like to extend a thank you to Amy and the Youth Circus Performers. They did a phenomenal job as openers for our program.

We had 40+ children come out and enjoy our Karnival games and win prizes! TJ Depoy complimented our team on what an "amazing turnout" the program had and how we did a great job putting everything together. The youth and their families shouted out multiple "thank you's" to us for providing them with a fun and free activity that they could enjoy with their peers. This led them to expect more great things in the future from Recreation, Park & Tourism Administration 428G Youth & Leisure!

Art With Heart

2017-12-09T21:24:00.000-06:00

Team Quad Squad consisting of Natalie Kenny, Audrey Meixner, Jalen Morgan, and Carolee Stark partnered with Big Brothers Big Sisters and the West Central Illinois Arts Council to offer a program called "Art with Heart".

At the event, 30 Bigs and Littles participated. The Bigs and Littles were told the story of the trend of hiding painted rocks around a community for someone else to find in hopes of brightening someone's day. The Littles had the opportunity to decorate rocks that they were told would be given to someone else who was in need. The painted rocks were later delivered to McDonough District Hospital to be given to patients. Participants also got to write notes to those in the hospital.

The McDonough County Big Brothers Big Sisters Director, Pete Tarantola, said the event was a "huge success"! The youth participating said they liked the event, and they seemed happy to paint the rocks. We hope the youth learned that it is important to do nice things for others.

We would like to thank Big Brothers Big Sisters for letting us use their facility. Thanks also go to West Central Illinois Arts Council for providing the supplies for the event. Last, thanks to JTK Consulting for sponsoring the event by providing funds to buy the t-shirts for the youth participants.

First Aid Rally

2017-12-08T13:15:00.001-06:00

As a group I Johnathan Reed as well as my group members Mike Wheeler, Logan Taube, and Matt Lewis put on a First Aid Rally for local boy scout troops to help them test their skills in a fun and engaging environment where they could learn and grow. We hosted this event at Spring Lake which was a fantastic venue and we are extremely thankful to have been allowed to do so. The kids who participated did 8 different stations where they were tested to see if they could complete the situation in the given time frame. The teams were scored based on how quickly they completed the challenge as well as creativity, effectiveness, and teamwork. The activity seamed like it went well as the kids had fun and wanted to do it again next year.

Fun for Fall

2017-12-07T17:36:00.000-06:00

Team: Dream Team Part 2 (Megan Hilt, Jaime Johnson, Coleman Briggs and Haley Shannon)

Agency: Macomb YMCA Afters school Program

On November 15, 2017, Dream Team Part 2 held a afternoon full of Thanksgiving themed activities for the children at Lincoln Elementary School who were apart of the Macomb YMCA after school program.

Our event consisted of a Thanksgiving Story Bracelet, where each color bead represented a part of the Thanksgiving story. Each child had the opportunity to read a section of the story and create their own bracelet. They also had the opportunity to create a Thankful Turkey. The children wrote 5 things they were thankful for and made a turkey out of it along with other supplies that were provided. Lastly, the children learned on how to properly set a Thanksgiving dinner table. They each got to create their own name tag and learn how to properly set up a table for a formal dinner like Thanksgiving.

We had over 50 children in grades Kindergarten through 3rd grade participate in Fun for Fall. All of the children loved the different activities. When parents came to pick up the children, some of the children asked their parents to come back to pick them up because they were having so much fun with the activities we had.

We would like to thank TJ Depoy for allowing us to use Lincoln Elementary School for the afternoon as well as giving us ideas and direction for the event. We would also like to thank our volunteers and the staff at the YMCA for their help with working with the children. Without everyone's help, this event would not have been as successful. Our team was truly thankful to put on this event and watch these children learn and grow.

The Trailblazers!

2017-05-10T00:53:00.000-05:00

Helping college students one free-throw at a time!

On April 13, 2017 Jessica Miller, Aubry Turner, Amber Mead, Maddie Collins, Nina Tuman and Tia Gonia partnered with Western Illinois' student recreation center to host an event for college students.

Our event that we hosted was a free throw competition for any college student that wanted to participate, with the prize of a $15 Jimmy Johns gift card. The participants that showed up were a mix of members of our groups friends, basketball players from the recreation center, students working out that wanted a break, and some employees. Once most of the students were signed in after walking into the courts for our event, we began to split them off into two groups and utilized both of the baskets on our court. We gave each person 3 practice shots before they started to shoot their 15 free throws. As the basket was either counted or not, we made sure to keep track of each individuals score. Once they were done shooting, they took their score back to the sign in sheet in order to keep track of everyone's shots. We had one student, Marcos, make all 15 of his shots early on in our event. After that, things started to heat up with the other players. Everyone tried to make a perfect score as well, or as close as they could get in order to secure second place. In the end, Marcos was the winner, with a perfect score of 15 shots out of 15. We ended up having to have a three point shoot out for second place, and the winner of second place won by only one shot.

We really tried to target college students with our event, because we all know how stressful and fast paced school can be. Being at the Recreation Center, we had a lot of students who loved to play basketball, able to let loose and have a fun time while competing against new faces.

Horn Field Day- Team Building

2017-05-09T20:00:00.002-05:00

Team: Brianna Martinez, Jennifer Gonzalez, Ashley Black, Megan Shaver & Alexis Marmion

Agency: Horn Field Campus

Our purpose for the activity was to provide a valuable learning experience for Macomb High School athletes. Through fun and inviting team-building exercises, we wanted to encourage bonding among the young athletes. We started the day by collecting waivers from each athlete. Before the events started, boys and girls were separated to do ice breakers to make everyone comfortable with each other. After icebreakers were complete, we led each team to one of the two events they would be completing. After spending an hour at each event, the teams switched and spent an hour at the other event. The teams were then combined to complete “the wall.” Upon completion of the wall, we led the teams to a station in which they were able to tie-dye shirts. While the athletes tye-dyed their shirts, three guest speakers from Western Illinois University men’s soccer and men’s baseball teams giving motivational speeches and knowledge of collegiate sports.

We were unsure of what to expect for participation from the 14-18 year old athletes. We found that during the events, we had strong participation from the girls until the boys were present. They were motivated and collaborated well with each other. The boys had many unlikely leaders step up. They seemed to be more impatient but outgoing.

To help get the students more involved and motivated to participate in the event, we tried a few different methods of marketing. We started by trying to connect on a younger generation level with a Snapchat filter for the event. With this filter and the photo frame we made, we found many students taking pictures and showing interest and also advertising our event. We made flyers that were sent to the coaches and hung up a banner at Horn Field Campus.

We would like to thank Mindy Phieffer for allowing us to use Horn Field Campus for the day as well as giving us ideas and direction for the event. Along with the facilitators who let us come out for a practice event and helped the day of in any way possible. We would like to thank Horn Field Campus overall for having programs like these and ones of their own possible for the community and the Macomb High School student athletes who took the time to participate in our event. We would also like to thank all of those who donated to our fundraiser to help make this possible and helping us to donate back to Horn field Campus.

Dream Team "Tech Night "

2017-05-08T22:11:00.000-05:00

On April 19^th 2017, Dream Team (Haley Shannon, Megan Hilt, Kyra Fair, Cierrae Caver, Tristan Brandy Mitchell) held a Tech night event at the YMCA Senior Center in Macomb, IL. At this program we had the people who attend the YMCA Senior Center/Ages 60+ of Macomb bring and questions they has about Facebook or their technology in general. We showed them a varied of settings and walked them through different processes on Facebook that they were not sure of. We also helped the director of the senior center make a Facebook page for facility. At the event we also had Facebook BINGO filled with Facebook terms. On there way out they were able to take a goodie bag made by us. We believe our program went well the participants were very pleased with our assistance and would like to see more programs like this put on. We would say we could improve in our marketing for our program to get more participants there. Dream Team could not have done this without the help of the Macomb YMCA Senior Center and would like to thank them.

Dinger Dodgeball Team TBD

2017-05-08T20:04:00.000-05:00

Dinger Dodgeball was an event put on by Mike Wheeler, Gavin Keefauver, Sam Crosa, Chris Annerino, and Justin Pettit. This event was created as an intramural event for college aged participants. This event would not have been possible without the assistance of the Western Illinois University Recreation Center and specifically the intramural department. We would like to give a special thank you to Dustin Van Sloten and the entire intramural department.
Dinger Dodgeball is a mix between softball and dodgeball in which participants use a softball bat to hit a dodgeball. There are some differences in the rules from regular softball such as being able to hit base runners with the ball, having as many runners as you want on the same base, and not being able to go back to the base once you leave it. The game is designed for participants to have fun and exercise during a competitive game.
The event was very successful in which we had thirty-five participants show up to play and all of the participants enjoyed playing. All the participants were friendly and respectful towards each other during the games. Players picked up fairly quickly on the rules of the game considering it was something that they had never played before. The winning team was awarded trophies after the championship game had concluded.

Team Awesome Spring Fling Event

2017-05-08T13:16:00.002-05:00

Brandon Gilbeck, Ta'Kayza Crowder, Carlee Fosco, Natalie Kenny, and Courtney Powelson developed the Spring Fling for the St. Paul School Aftercare Program. The Spring Fling was to provide the aftercare students a chance to engage in activities they usually don't do in the program. We set goals that encouraged face-to-face interaction rather than electronic games, developed team cooperation, developed hand/eye coordination, enhanced cognitive abilities, and encouraged creativity. We presented several activities for the students to enjoy including: Carrot Patch Toss, Jammin' Jellies, Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt, Bunny Hop Sack Race, and Easter Egg Bottle Toss. In addition, the students really enjoyed playing basketball with our team member who is also a member of the WIU men's basketball team! The student comments about the afternoon were positive and judging by the laughter, they all seemed to have fun.

We thank St. Paul School and especially the director of the aftercare program for allowing us to come work with their aftercare students.

Rocky goes to Church - Crossing after school program

2017-05-08T11:12:00.000-05:00

Little Einstein’s

During our partnership with The Crossing after school program, we instructed a group of 30-40 children in a variety of leadership activities. The activities included kickball, fishy-fishy come swim in my ocean, dodge ball, duck-duck-goose, and also Simon says. The younger children were most interested in dodge ball and duck-duck-goose, unfortunately, these two specific games were played the most and enjoyed by all of the children because they got bored and were not enthused with the other leadership activities. By participating in this program partnership we were able to realize that keeping the children’s attention and interest is essential. We noticed that some of the children either weren’t enjoying certain activities or quit participating altogether, with that being said we were able to find other activities that brought excitement to many of the kids ( fishy-fishy come swim in my ocean, dodgeball, and Simon says). Even with these fun activities some children still managed to get bored and were uninterested in participating and decided to play basketball on the side with one of the facilitators, Dwayne. Playing basketball ended up not being a bad idea and it created a memorable experience for the kids. Overall, we were able to set up and transition from activity to activity successfully and keep the interests of all the kids through the various activities that were played.

The evaluation for our program includes what went well, what could have went better, and the overall reaction from the participants. The things that went well in our “Rocky goes to Church” program was setting up the equipment and available space, keeping the interest of the majority of the participants, and improvising when the participants started becoming restless. We could have improved our planning process by thinking ahead in terms of what could go wrong, extra games, and how to involve more of the participants. Our marketing strategies could have also been improved by developing a better flyer and volunteering with The Crossing after school program before our program plan in order to inform the children about “Rocky goes to Church.” We found it harder than we originally planned to keep our participants entertained, we dealt with this by improvising games such as fishy fishy come swim in my ocean, duck-duck-goose, and Simon says. One observation that we had afterward was that we could have planned more games that would spark the interest of the children, rather than just having the decision of dodgeball and kickball. Another observation was that you couldn’t really give them a choice of playing or not because they all decided they didn’t want to participate when we did give them a choice. Luckily, Andy, the after school program director, informed them that they needed to play the games with us. The overall reaction from the participants ranged from absolutely loving it to being unenthused about the games. Our overall reaction to the program was that it went well, but it could have went better by including different activities. We would like to thank The Crossing after school program for allowing us the opportunity to implement our RPTA program plan and work with these awesome children!

"Holy Karingo!" with the Colchester UMC

2016-12-11T23:43:00.003-06:00

Hello my name is Jordan Mance, I am a senior Music major and Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration minor. On Friday, December 1st 2016, Spencer Cotton and I partnered with the Colchester United Methodist Church to facilitate a program called “Holy Karingo” for the senior ministry of their church. We had a total of five participants ranging from the age of 65 to 90. Our goal was to provide the seniors with a program that was different than what they've experienced before. During this program we introduced a fun icebreaker, two exciting karaoke games, and some delicious snacks. We began with snacks and greet time, which was named “Meet and Greet”. During this time people were able to enjoy some homemade New York Style Cheesecake, Homemade Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal Raisin cookies, and some hot cocoa or a bottle of water.

We all got to know each other a little better through an icebreaker called “Memory Blaster.” For this Icebreaker, one person would stand out of the group that is lined up (this would be the guesser). The group that is lined up would strike a pose while the person guessing is looking and then the person guessing would turn away from the group . While the person guessing is turned away, the group would have to choose one individual of the group to switch to a different pose than the one he was doing while the person guessing was looking. Then, the guessing individual would turn around when the group is ready and see if he/she could guess the person who switched their pose. He would also have to call them by their name. This helped us learn a little about each other's personalities and each other's names.

Following the icebreaker we decided to begin the Karaoke game called, “Christmas Karaoke Mix Up”. For this game there were two teams of three. The first team that was up would pick a Christmas song and a famous singer out of two separate bowls. A member of the team picking would be the performer and the other team would have to guess which famous singer the individual is imitating before the song is over. Each team who can complete this task successfully gets a point. After each member had a chance to go, we then started “Holy Bingo” which was lead by Spencer Cotton, also a student from the Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration department of WIU.

The way this “Holy Bingo” worked was that there were different bingo cards distributed out to each person. On each bingo card there were bible book names in each box and one free space. The caller (Spencer) would call out the Bible book names and the person who got a row first would be the winner and would call out “Hallelujah!!!”. Spencer did a few rounds of this, ending with a full card to win in which everyone shouted “Hallelujah!!!”. Finally, we ended the night with the participants picking their prizes, more snacks and evaluations.

The participants were very energetic and enjoyed participating in each section of our program. I want to thank Kim Smith and the Colchester United Methodist Church for helping to provide a fun and successful program!

Did you say let's play "Holy Karingo?!"

2016-12-11T23:02:00.001-06:00

Hello! My name is Spencer Cotton and I am a current graduate student studying Recreation, Park and Tourism Administration at Western Illinois University. On Thursday, December 1, 2016, Jordan Mance and I collaborated to produce a program called “Holy Karingo!” for the elderly congregation members at the Wesley Methodist Church located in Colchester, IL. During this program, we each facilitated rounds of Karaoke and Bingo that helped the elderly participants have fun outside of their normal routines. A special thanks to the Wesley Methodist Church and the program coordinator Kim Smith for allowing us to host this program and diligently working with us to make sure it was successful.

At the beginning of this program, participants gathered in the dining area in which a variety of snacks were served to allow time for late participants to arrive. A total of five participants attended the program and they ranged from the ages of 60-93 years of age.

After participants had a chance to grab a snack, they transitioned into the activities room where we played an icebreaker called “Memory Blaster!” in which they had to guess the subtle changes in the groups’ non-verbal body language.

Following the icebreaker, Jordan Mance led the group in Karaoke where each participant picked random songs and singers and the rest of the group to guess who the singer was. Once all participants had a chance to sing, I then led the participants into “Holy Bingo” in which each person had a bingo card with biblical chapters as the game pieces. Once a participant had bingo, they yelled “Hallelujah!” thus signifying the meaning behind “Holy Bingo”. Following the bingo activity, the participants filled out a program evaluation, picked up their prizes, and grabbed more snacks.

Overall, our participants were lively and enjoyed participating in the activities planned throughout the evening and they found our homemade cheesecake and cookies to be quite tasty.

Tai Chi at Gordon Berhents Senior Center

2016-12-11T20:09:00.000-06:00

Hi, my name is Sally Fischell and I have a passion for helping people stay as healthy and active as physically possible. Being older myself I have learned that Tai Chi has been proven to benefit elders maintain or even regain balance. Falling is something that is a big concern for elders. Gordon Behrents Senior Center at 2015 Windish Dr. Galesburg, Illinois 61401 was kind enough to allow me to hold a seated Tai Chi class with some of the folks that come to participate in social activities throughout the week. It was so much fun for me and many of the people that joined in.

We started with a description of the exercises we were going to do and what the benefits are from doing Tai Chi regularly. I also encouraged everyone participating to only do what they felt comfortable doing. I had a group of 15 present and 11 attempted each move which was presented, Four gentlemen did not participate in actually doing exercises but did stay and watch. Everyone was in good spirits and there was a lot of joking and chatting during the activity. Both exercise, socialization, and laughter are good for physical and mental health. Once finished I received positive feedback and requests for another class. Several even asked if it could be a regular thing because they felt so good. I am looking forward to returning on a regular basis and thanks to the director at Gordon Berhents Senior Center, Connie Crowl I will be scheduling classes weekly.

Frisbee Golf 101 with Macomb Park District

2016-12-11T19:49:00.000-06:00

On November 13th 2016, team Frolf (Ashli King, Joey Billeter, Kyle Siebert, Sean Dowling, and Tommy Kuliavas) held an event at the Everwood Disc Golf Course to introduce the youth in Macomb to the sport of disc golf. The group introduced themselves to the participants and began by explaining the rules of the game and teaching the proper ways to throw the discs. After the children were familiar with the rules and how to play our group guided the participants through the front nine holes of the course. Along the way we would stop the kids and suggest ways for them to throw better while making sure they knew when they did something good. If there was a particularly strange shot or hard throw one of the group members would throw first to demonstrate. Team Frolf was helped by and would like to thank the Macomb Park District.

(Not pictured due to taking the photo is Joey Billeter)

Into the Woods with Macomb Park District

2016-12-11T16:38:00.000-06:00

Team TBD partnered with the Macomb Park District and Horn Field Campus to create a fun filled event to educate the youth of Macomb about the outdoors. Team TBD consisted of Amy Borgstede, Hayden Fox, Bobby Liston, Patrick Kolp, Luke Shinners, and Chris Breed. As the youth arrived, Bobby finished registration while Hayden and Chris led the kids in a game. After playing a few games, they made trail mix and went on a nature hike. While hiking, the youth learned about the wildlife in the area and prairie restoration. After the hike, they then learned about recycling and being eco friendly. They played games for the remainder of the time until their parents arrived. Overall, it was a very successful event. Team TBD would like to thank the Macomb Park District and Horn Field Campus for helping to provide a great program!

"Then And Now" at Knox County Nursing Home

2016-12-10T22:31:00.002-06:00

On December 3rd of 2016, Clark Scott, Rusheena Shah, and Joanne Scott hosted a music activity at the Knox County Nursing Home, located in Knoxville, Illinois. The participants of the activity were a mixture of residents who were physically and/or cognitively impaired. The activity lasted about an hour. During the program, we played songs from the time the residents of the nursing home were college-aged, and also songs that are more popular currently. After each song, we had a discussion of what each resident felt about during the song, what experiences a song may have made them remember, and if they actually liked the song or not. We expected double the amount of residents that actually came, which worked to our benefit, because we were able to have more personal conversations we each resident. The residents almost unanimously liked the older songs compared to the newer songs! Following these songs, we played a Christmas-themed memory game in which we played Christmas favorites and allowed the residents to guess the name of each song. Some of the residents were cognitively impaired due to dementia complications, and were able to remember most of the words to each song. Overall everyone, including us, the hosts, had a blast talking and laughing about past experiences revolving around the holidays. I would like to thank Tammie Leaf, the Activity Director and the rest of the staff at KCNH for their consistent support throughout the process! I would definitely do this activity again in the future, and would recommend the Knox County Nursing Home to any students who need to perform an activity for older adults!