(03/15-16/10) - Hermantown Elementary School, Hermantown, MN

3/15/10, 3/16/10 Outreach Visit to Hermantown Elementary School in Hermantown, MN

Day 1 Monday 3/15/10

10:00 Monday morning the 3^rd grade hallway was disturbed every few minutes with SCREAMS!!! MORE SCREAMS!!!!! AND MORE SCREAMS. Some creature was stalking the halls!!!!!!! Take cover!!!!!!!!!!

The Education Outreach Crew knew better. Magic had arrived. Screams from the lunch ladies as somehow Magic managed to find the 1 open door to the cafeteria. Screams from the gym class as somehow Magic managed to find the 1 open door to the gym. Screams from students in the classrooms as they looked out the classroom door to see Magic strolling by.

Trish, Gramma Carole, and I got there early just as a sea of enthusiastic 3^rd graders came down the 3^rd grade hall. We ducked into the classroom, but the students followed us. Our WindChill Legacy shirts gave us away. There were so many questions, one right after another as we tried to set up for the presentation.

The students had been on break the week before. They were full of energy but they settled down quickly as the teacher stepped in and made them sit with a book until we were finished setting up. Then they all followed directions, as I asked them to push their desks to the back of the room. Polly, Trish, and Gramma Carole helped rearrange chairs and make a big path for Magic to walk in.

Even though the students had been off for a week, this first group of 3^rd graders did show respect and good listening skills as I talked. It was wonderful. They also had a great time with Magic. In fact the other 2 3^rd grade classes today had excellent behavior too. It was a fun day.

We ate popcorn chicken, mashed potato and gravy, and apples for lunch. It was cafeteria food. The teachers apologized but we did not think it was so bad. The cooks gave us oversized proportions. We saved some apple slices for Magic.

The classrooms were hot and small. We had to go to 3 different rooms to present. It was wonderful to have such good help. Gramma Carole and Trish made it so easy to move all the stuff. They just seemed to know what needed to be done and when I turn around, after talking to the students, they had everything packed. It was amazing. They made it so easy for me.

Once again we got rave reviews from teachers, paraprofessionals, student teachers, and students. The WindChill Family was flying high. It felt so good to be together, doing something we love.

Well it just happens that the 3^rd grade corridor has the cafeteria entrance. Well Magic made a bee line right for that door several times. The cafeteria ladies thought she was soooooo cute. Then she also made a run for the gym. It had a stage. She did interrupt the whole PE Class and the instructor was a bit upset. He asked the kids to focus on him but that was an impossible task when the cutest mini horse ever decided to pay a visit.

Magic’s first encounter with a student was with a sight impaired student. Kathi and Magic were the perfect host and hostess for this girl. In fact, for the rest of the 2 days we were at the school, every time Magic walked into the building to go to a presentation, Special Ed students , each having a paraprofessional with them, magically appeared.

One of the teachers, who we presented to, had a son at Stowe Elementary. She said her son saw our program and told her how great it was. He was really impressed by it. After seeing our program she too agreed with her son.

Again I got so many waves and hi’s and hugs as I walked down the halls or outside during recess. In fact I got about 30 students in trouble as they ran over to talk to me and crossed the line. At first one of the recess monitors thought I was one of them but soon realized I wasn’t. She quickly got them back where they were supposed to be.

Then the police liaison officer showed up in a sheriff car. She knew about Magic coming and would not tow us. I just wanted to make sure we were parked ok.

It was so funny when I made the remark that the school was so nice to serve us lunch and let us eat in the cafeteria. One of the kids asked if Magic was going to be eating her lunch there too. I said no because she had asked if they were serving hamburgers and french-fries, her favorite and they weren’t.

One class had asked the very deep question: “Why did this happen to WindChill?” One girl asked, “How did WindChill get his name?”

Everyone loved Magic’s pink PJ story. In fact one little Special Ed girl told me that she also had a pink horse at home. She used her hands to show me how big her horse was (about 12 inches). She described its PJ’s just like Magic. She repeated everything I had said about Magic. It was cute. She remembered every word I said. She was listening.

One student had an uncle that raised appaloosas and she was thrilled when Polly told her that WindChill was part appaloosa

Another teacher told us about her Dad living in Elk River. He does equine rescues. A few months ago, he rescued 16 horses from a farm, got them healthy again and this past week he had to return them to give the owner another chance at taking responsibility for them. How incredulous huh!!!

The floors at this school sure accented the sound of Magic’s hooves. It was dead silence for 30 seconds as the kids listened to the musical sound of her hooves. Smiles of delight broke out as Gramma Carole and Polly led Magic around to hear the short but strong staccato sound of her hooves—-one of the prettiest sounds ever.

One boy at recess came up to me and kept saying thank you over and over. He thought we did an awesome job and that horses are better than he thought.

1 girl said she knew how to whinny. So I asked her to whinny to see Magic’s reaction. Magic perked up her ears and you could see Magic was thinking…..it’s not a real horse but it something strange.

Well Magic did not want to leave the last classroom. There were two girls who had horses and knew just where to scratch. Magic was in heaven. Kathi had to pull and pull on Magic to get her out of the classroom.

A Hermantown parent was told by her neighbor, whose son goes to Stowe, how she felt so bad about not attending our presentation at Stowe. Well the Hermantown parent made it a point not to miss this presentation today. Her daughter called her mom and she rushed over. She had tears in her eyes throughout the whole program and when she saw Magic, her tears became a flood. She had to grab lots of Kleenex. She said she is going to tell her neighbor what she missed. (mentioned the term lording it over her neighbor)She kept repeating how wonderful it was and moving. She said. “Your program was very appropriate and very positive and every child needs to hear it. Very perfect for them, just fabulous.”

This was Magic’s first event of spring without her winter coat. She wore her yellow horsey PJ’s into school.

Polly was a good ambassador, striking up conversations with teachers in the teacher’s lounge. She got several more teachers to think about having us come back to Hermantown Schools for other classrooms.

Gramma Carole and Polly did a good job of taking Magic around for the kids to get up close, personal hands on experience with Magic.

The kids loved the story of Layla having a computer and the birthday cake that she ordered for Gramma Carole. They could not believe Chaos had an email account. They did believe that Magic could write though. One boy asked if Magic could show us how she uses a black permanent marker to write on the stall walls. He also wanted to see her lay down.

Well after we all left with giant smiles and in utter contentment with happy Legacy Outreach experiences, my cell phone beeps with this message from Kathi: 2:50 pm In PETCO w/ Magic.

Day 2 Tues 3/16/10

What do a Special Ed student and Magic have in common? They both were on a CALCULATED ROUTE, MAKING A “BEELINE” as fast as they could go, to get to where they wanted to be but for totally different reasons.

As Kathi and I were walking in the building, in the distance we see a boy furiously pedaling his little red tricycle straight down the 3rd grade hall towards us as fast as his little legs would pedal. Kathi had to jump out of the way as he drove straight to the door with a bump and pressed his nose to the glass, looking this way and that, saying many times “horse, horse, where’s horse, where’s horse. Kathi said, “In the trailer for now”. The boy kept turning his head repeating many times as he kept looking back and forth, stretching his neck to look, “horse in trailer, horse in trailer, horse in trailer.”

Magic was no different. She was on a mission too. Kathi came in laughing on Magic’s first walk down the 3^rd grade hallway to the first classroom visit of the morning. She said that Magic made straight for the cafeteria this morning, the minute she entered the building. Today, unlike yesterday, Kathi said Magic was using her thinking side of her brain and the whole thing was calculated ahead of time. Her legs were travelling at supersonic speed making a “beeline” to the cafeteria. (I think I recall some apples and carrots were exchanged the day before.)

As I was setting up my computer/projector table for the first 3rd grade presentation of the day, several boys gathered around. They asked if the table was for the horse to stand on. I asked them if they thought this would hold a horse. They said yes because they had heard she was really tiny. They stood up really tall and showed me where they thought the horse would measure up on their bodies. I asked them how much they weighed. They said anywhere from 50-70 lbs. I said well do you think this table will hold your weight. They said yes. I said the tiny horse that is coming to see you weighs 220-240 lbs. They quickly changed their minds. It finally registered with them that a real horse was coming in. The excitement and the whites of their eyes grew in direct proportion. (I did not laugh at their question even though I was picturing Kathi picking up Magic and putting her on the table.)

Kathi came for the second presentation laughing again. She told us that there had been a long line of kids in the hall marching 2×2 to the multipurpose room. Magic walked past the last 2 students standing in line and then made a perfect squared off turn, to get in line behind the 2 kids and then walked to the room like any other student. Wow did that cause some excitement as the students finally looked around to see a horse bringing up the rear, marching in line with them. Kathi just marveled at the full perfect turn Magic did to get in line. Kathi lives for these moments. And we who are in the classrooms are so envious when we hear Kathi and Magic’s arrival stories and hallway walk stories.

Magic did the line-up again with a music class. Again there was a music class and a line of marching kids, 2×2 going to the choir room. Magic walked past the last 2 students and then made that great squared off turn again, after the last 2 students passed her. She got behind the 2 students and walked very mannerly in line like the rest of the mannerly students, to the music class.

Today the students had so many questions and stories to tell me. One boy asked, “Why didn’t the owner pay attention to WindChll?”

A boy explained what the word dignity meant and Polly was very moved and impressed.

One girl asked why Magic’s belly was so round. Kathi said it looked pretty normal. (We have seen her belly when she weighed close to 300lbs. She is a svelte 220-240 pounds

Students asked about Magic’s teeth. We explained about a horse dentist and how it took 4 people to hold her while her teeth were filed. Then the question was asked how many people does it take to brush her teeth. Kathi said she does not brush her teeth because then all the other horses would want her to brush there’s too and her whole day would be gone.

One girl owned a horse named Storm. She boards him at Seeds of Hope Youth Ranch outside of Duluth. Part of her boarding fees is reduced if the ranch can use her horse for special needs kids to ride.

One girl was not allergic to Magic but she was allergic to the antibacterial wipes we use. She just went in the back of the room to wash her hands.

Teachers kept their teacher resource books another week. One boy said he had read a WindChill book. He pointed to one of our Molly the Pony books that the teacher had put out that was included with the teacher activity materials.

A boy was very intent on figuring out how Magic and Layla could use a computer, hidden somewhere in the barn. Kathi could see the boy moving his fingers on an imaginary keyboard, then looking at Magic’s hooves. He kept going back and forth looking at his fingers and Magic’s hooves. Kathi said,” Wireless and no mouse” and with a twinkle in her eye and holding back the laugher as she gave him such an engaging smile.

Out in the hall during recess one of the student came up to us and said, “You are all very nice.

”During the 2^nd presentation, Kathi had to warn me that some of the students were hugging Magic a little too far back. Thank goodness for Kathi always watching closely to protect Magic, the outreach team and all the people interacting with her.

Again we had a great day. The students were well mannered and really appreciative hearing WindChill’s story and a visit from Magic. They were very engaged in each presentation which made our day exciting and memorable.

Well the last of the 6 presentations of the 2 days was at hand. Magic was a bit cranky. She had been mobbed this last day and interacted with so many students and staff. Plus we had to move from classroom to classroom for every presentation, bringing Magic into an ever changing environment. It was hot in those classrooms too.

When she came out of the trailer, she was moving her head from side to side. However that did not stop her from taking her long walk down the red carpet path of glory one last time. It was a long red carpet walk because the final classroom was the last one.

Kathi said that Magic knew this was her last trip down the hall and because she was cranky, Kathi just gave her a long lead to sort things out. Kathi was very, very, very patient. It worked. Magic did sort it out. She took her stroll, stopping at EVERY room, the gym, the cafeteria, just enough to give final goodbyes to her fans. She stopped at the doors and looked in, stayed until she got the amount of adulation she thought she deserved, and then turned around, heading to the next door. It just so happened that the classroom for the last presentation was way at the front of the school. Magic had to pass every classroom, stopping to go in to say goodbye and then turn around to leave. Kathi has incredible patience.

However in one classroom, Magic walked in and it held only the teacher. The teacher welcomed Magic in but Kathi said there were no kids and Magic turned around and walked out.

Well Magic finally reached the last classroom. As Kathi brought her in, she whispered to Gramma Carole, Trish, Polly, and I that Magic was cranky. We were told to be calmer than usual and keep the noise down. Kathi decided to take Magic around this time to the students.

Magic was a gem. She was a trooper. She held it together the entire show and stayed 15 minutes over the program time. She was a very tired trooper.

Again Magic is amazing and the way Kathi takes such great care of her and understands her moods, and keeps her happy, and keeps her thinking, are all of the many skills the outreach team is now beginning to understand. Magic is in good hands. Kathi loves that horse and her pride for Magic shines brightly.

And thank goodness there were no accidents. We waited all day in anticipation after Kathi posted on her Facebook page that during Magic’s Petco visit and I quote, “She ate a ton of their fancy $8.00 a lb dog cookies out of the bin before I noticed what she was doing.” But no worries Jody and Ann, Magic kept her record intact.