Inaugural Field Day event connects the In4All community outside the classroom

It has been almost six months since joining the In4All team, and I can’t say enough how much I not only enjoy what I do, but I like my job, too! Sometimes both things don’t exist at the same time.

Amid the height of programming when things feel exhilarating and exhausting, one of my friends asked me, “What’s something that’s surprised you in your job?” My initial reaction was to say, “I’m new - everything is surprising to me!” But I thought about how it feels to go into classrooms again, working with grade school and middle school students again, and I answered, “I’m surprised I forgot how fun it is to be with people.”

Now, don’t get me wrong: I love being with people - at least most of the time. But the last few years of the pandemic have been hard - isolating, scary, and a lot of people (myself included) are guarded when it comes to community. But our students that we interact with through our programs have a deep desire for connection - both with each other, and with the co-learners (our industry partners) who step into the classroom with them. I see it in our program feedback as students are asking for more opportunities to work in pairs, or in groups, or commenting that their favorite part was talking to each other. As I visited classrooms, I was able to see first hand that the young people we work with are eager to be with one another.

Our first annual Field Day was a stellar example of this. After a jam-packed year for our students, educators, partners and the In4All staff, we wrapped the year with an afternoon to celebrate! The day was filled with nostalgic games like a sack race and rocket launchers, tattoo booths and marshmallow tosses, ice cream (courtesy of Fifty Licks!) and fun prizes.

Throughout the course of the day, almost 200 people came by including students, their families, and our volunteers who helped make it all happen. It was fantastic, to say the least! I saw some students I recognized from the classroom take the adults they brought along with them to be their partner in the three-legged race or shoot off the rocket launchers in the air. I watched students who had classes together squeal with excitement when they saw each other, and pulled them towards where the ice cream truck was parked. The joy on the field was palpable.

There were fits of laughter with families and friends, kids cheering on adults as they ran as fast as they could without dropping an egg, and students making friends with each other from different schools as they teamed up for a relay race. There was something so beautiful about watching adults being silly and goofy with their young ones, as well.

Of course, there was competition - there were games of all kinds, after all! But as I walked around the field, the competition during games centered around play and a “let’s do it again!” mentality rather than winners and losers. I found myself grateful for these young people who continue to remind me not only how good it is to be with each other, but how liberating it is for joy to be centered in our community. This is what I hope for, for our young people and for the communities In4All does programs in.

The programs we deliver to and with our students, educators, and partners are designed to disrupt narratives, and promote tangible interest in STEM for K-12 students. This work is powerful and can’t be done in isolation. It requires not only being with people, but to have fun with people while doing it.

Field Day, the culmination of our programs for the 2022 -2023 academic year was a beautiful reminder of this for me. I want to shout a big “Thank You!” to OnPoint Community Credit Union for sponsoring this inaugural event and to Nike for hosting us on their beautiful campus. It is a privilege to be part of this community, and I am eager to see where these connections take us in the next year.