Why I Love My Brain

Back in the Fall of last year Girls on the Run San Diego asked me to be the guest speaker at the women's film festival Lunafest. I spoke for the first time publicly about finding out that I have cancer, going through treatment, running, and why I love Girls on the Run. A teacher from one of the schools where we hold Girls on the Run reached out to me after the event and said that she really enjoyed hearing me talk and asked if I would be able to come and talk to the school for an event they were having called "Love Your Brain". Me?? Uh ..... sure! The event wasn't until April which was six months away and I almost forgot about it until a month or so ago when we touched base to go over details.

 

Packed Auditorium at Skyline Elementary



 

I found out that I would have about 30 minutes to speak to the 6th graders about my story which would tie into their week long event themed "Love Your Brain". In preparation for my visit the school showed the students my Katie Couric interview. I was nervous preparing for this talk since I wasn't sure what I should share that would be appropriate and interesting to kids that age. I wanted to be honest about my disease but didn't want to scare them too much, and wanted to somehow come across as a good role model.

Gift from the School

 

 

As I was putting together my photo presentation I decided to start out by talking about me, things I like, where I grew up, where I went to school, what I studied, and where I worked. This was a perfect opportunity for me to plug engineering of course, and I talked about how I majored in Mechanical Engineering and told the kids about the cool jobs I was hoping to get (working at Disneyland as an Imagineer or working at Mattel designing Barbie Jeeps) and what cool jobs I actually ended up getting (working at a robotics company and working at a video game company). It may seem silly, but I feel a need to do my part when I can to encourage kids to think about engineering as something fun and cool ... and of course something that a girl can do!

Engineering Class Trip to Chevron

 

 

I also included pictures that allowed me to talk about running, dressing up, and Girls on the Run. I also explained how I was diagnosed with brain cancer, what type of treatment I went through, and how I kept running through it all.

 

To tie in with the theme I ended with the reasons I love my brain. I love my brain because it allows me to be:
 

 

CARING

 

 

INTELLIGENT

 

 

CREATIVE

 

 

CONFIDENT

 

 

MOTIVATED

 

 

BRAVE

 

 

SUPPORTIVE

 

 

OPTIMISTIC

 

 

 

Yes, I did throw some things in there to be crowd pleasers like the pictures of the dogs for my "caring" example. If you want you can watch the whole photo presentation here. It's a bit long, grab some popcorn!

 

 

 

 

After I finished my presentation they asked me to take questions. I never would have imagined that the kids would have so many questions for me. Boy was I wrong! The whole room was filled with hands in the air! I answered question after question for about 15 minutes until we finally had to cut the kids off. The questions ranged from "Do you play any musical instruments" to "What do you do for your job now?" to "Have you ever done an Ironman?" to the last question which was the hardest question to answer ... "What would you do if you were told you only have one year to live?" Geez kids, getting heavy here! I was able to answer all of their questions and really had a fun time doing so. If you haven't finished your popcorn and want to kick back and watch another 15 minute video, here is the segment with all of the kids questions.

 

 

The whole experience was really great and I loved having a chance to spend the afternoon with these kids. I hope they all love their brains a little bit more now!