NCHS class assists ‘Smile Kentucky!’ program, plans ‘Kentucky Tea’
Erica Thurman and Victoria Hill trade high fives while Karen Bain and Seth Jones work on a Smile Bag in Bain’s NCHS classroom. (Photo submitted)
NC GAZETTE / WBRT RADIO
STAFF REPORT
Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2014 — When the “Smile Kentucky!” program visited Nelson County High School this fall, the group of University of Louisville dental student received assistance from Nelson County High School students in Karen Bain and Madison Johnson’s class.
“Smile Kentucky!” is a program that provides free dental screenings to students in select elementary and middle school grades. As part of the screenings, students receive a goody bag with a toothbrush, toothpaste and other dental hygiene items.
When the program visited several Nelson County schools in late October and November, bags of dental treats for children attending the event were ready to go — thanks to the advance work by the team of students at NCHS.
Thomas Greenwell, left, and Matt Boone work together on a Smile Bag. (Photo submitted)
The students’ behind-the-scenes work included assembling approximately 1,200 goody bags for the UofL dental time m to distribute to children receiving free dental screenings.
Bain described the situation as a true win-win-win for all concerned.
Her students had the chance to practice a lot of different vocational tasks while giving back to the community. The visiting dentists received welcome assistance for the valuable service they performed. And the children received the goody bags.
That kind of work helps build self-esteem for the students while including practice in academic skills, such as counting, along with vocational skills, such as sorting, and assembling.
Bain said her class has planned a special “Kentucky Tea” December 16 for the Nelson County Board of Education. The class and will help fix and serve food and holiday treats for the event, set for 12:30-2 p.m. in Bain’s classroom.
“We want people to know, these kids are very capable,” Bain said, mentioning that the program is always looking for similar jobs they can perform for their community.
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