Walking Down Sesame Street

A few days after my first graduation, I had signed up to attend the The Todd Ouida Children’s Foundation Annual Conference – Strengthening the Supports: Enriching the “Everyday Leaders” Who Support the Mental Health and Well-Being of Infants, Children and Families at MSU. It was only about $30.00 for students, so I decided to attend because some of the sessions seemed interesting. When I was talking to my friends on campus, they told me that they were volunteering to help out a former professor we had, and that I should too. I wasn't sure they'd refund me the money, but when I asked - they were happy to have someone else volunteering.

I was nervous I wouldn't get to listen to the speakers, but I helped out during the beginning and during the breaks, and I was still able to learn a great deal about children and the helping professions.

Now I'm sure you're wondering what this has to do with Sesame Street right? Well, Bob McGrath, the music man on Sesame Street was at this Conference! Can you believe it!? I hadn't known at that time that Bob McGrath was Bob, but when I found out I was ecstatic, because I was such a huge fan of Sesame Street when I was a little girl. During his presentation, the audience grew quite and truly listened to what this man had to say. He's not just the music man, but he's a powerful individual that advocates for children everywhere. He told us that music is an extremely helpful agent when helping children learn.

At one point he asked for volunteers to come on stage and sing with him, as well as play instruments, which of course I did. He also included the audience in singing one of his songs, one we all know from Sesame Street.

During the break he was selling his CDS and books, so I decided to buy one because he was signing each and everyone that someone bought. I, along with the other volunteers, helped him during this time, because it was a lot for just one individual to deal with. At the end, he gave us a free CD, and signed it! So I ended up with two of his greatest CDS, and I proudly set them on my desk.

[instagram photo]