I think most will be interested in reading. It's a bit long but I need to set a foundation. I was volunteering at a place called Feed My Starving Children in Mpls area about 3 weeks ago - involving packing bulk food (rice, soy, etc) into smaller meal packets that are distributed to starving people throughout the world. My role that day was to replenish bulk food into smaller bins for others to pack the meals.
After I did so at one of the stations, a 16 or so year old girl on a school community service class trip cheerfully said "Thank You ____________!" (reading my name tag as I'm what's called a trained volunteer so people know I can answer questions, etc.). That's pretty impressive as almost all that age don't say anything at all, let alone call you by name. I look up, said "You're Welcome", and see she's wearing an Iowa sweatshirt. I mentioned I really liked her sweatshirt as I'm a big Hawk fan. She said, what about Iowa State pointing to her friend right next to her that was wearing an ISU sweatshirt? I then said "Iowa State is evil!" - to which they both laughed. I then said "Go Hawks!" to which she replied "Go Hawks!" and then I went on my way.
About 20 mins later I happen to walk by her and noticed her unoccupied at the end of the packing line (everyone switches around) as her friend on the one side of her was talking to someone on the other side of her yet. So I stopped and said, "you know what you ought do now that I know you're a Hawk fan and you obviously attend Providence Academy (as there were many students, including at her station, that wearing Providence Academy school garb (many others were wearing college garb too))...
"You need to go talk to Maddyn Greenway and tell her to commit to IA". She then smiled and said, "I'm Maddyn Greenway" (you need to realize everyone wears hair nets so I didn't recognize her at the time). I then said "no way, seriously?" - to which she said "yes". I then said "nice, sweet! You're an awesome basketball player"; to which she said "thanks". We then talked about her mom and dad both playing sports at Iowa. I then said something like... "I really like that you're repping a Hawkeye sweatshirt. I'm feeling some IA love right now!" - a comment she genuinely seemed to enjoy and find humorous. It was only about a one minute conversation as I didn't want to keep her from her friends.
I found Maddyn (Maddie as I subsequently heard her friends call her) as genuine, warm, engaging, humble, mature, pleasant, and personable. Whichever program she ultimately commits to is getting a quality young woman based on my encounter.
P.S. totally 100% true story that I actually debated as to post or not. I decided it's no secret she's an Iowa fan and my interaction with her was very complimentary to her.
After I did so at one of the stations, a 16 or so year old girl on a school community service class trip cheerfully said "Thank You ____________!" (reading my name tag as I'm what's called a trained volunteer so people know I can answer questions, etc.). That's pretty impressive as almost all that age don't say anything at all, let alone call you by name. I look up, said "You're Welcome", and see she's wearing an Iowa sweatshirt. I mentioned I really liked her sweatshirt as I'm a big Hawk fan. She said, what about Iowa State pointing to her friend right next to her that was wearing an ISU sweatshirt? I then said "Iowa State is evil!" - to which they both laughed. I then said "Go Hawks!" to which she replied "Go Hawks!" and then I went on my way.
About 20 mins later I happen to walk by her and noticed her unoccupied at the end of the packing line (everyone switches around) as her friend on the one side of her was talking to someone on the other side of her yet. So I stopped and said, "you know what you ought do now that I know you're a Hawk fan and you obviously attend Providence Academy (as there were many students, including at her station, that wearing Providence Academy school garb (many others were wearing college garb too))...
"You need to go talk to Maddyn Greenway and tell her to commit to IA". She then smiled and said, "I'm Maddyn Greenway" (you need to realize everyone wears hair nets so I didn't recognize her at the time). I then said "no way, seriously?" - to which she said "yes". I then said "nice, sweet! You're an awesome basketball player"; to which she said "thanks". We then talked about her mom and dad both playing sports at Iowa. I then said something like... "I really like that you're repping a Hawkeye sweatshirt. I'm feeling some IA love right now!" - a comment she genuinely seemed to enjoy and find humorous. It was only about a one minute conversation as I didn't want to keep her from her friends.
I found Maddyn (Maddie as I subsequently heard her friends call her) as genuine, warm, engaging, humble, mature, pleasant, and personable. Whichever program she ultimately commits to is getting a quality young woman based on my encounter.
P.S. totally 100% true story that I actually debated as to post or not. I decided it's no secret she's an Iowa fan and my interaction with her was very complimentary to her.
