Five young Wilton residents who were elected as team to serve as Ms. President of Wilton are making good on their campaign promises to help kids their age improve mental health through connecting with their community and through physical fitness.
Emily Smith, Alexa Marr, Ellie Holtz, Avery Holtz and Harper Smith have created a festival called “Get Moving!”, partnering with Trackside Teen Center (15 Station Rd.) as the festival location, on Saturday, Sept. 9 from 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
When she ran for Ms. President US, Smith had proposed the idea of a festival to help boost the mental health of Wilton’s youth during the March election campaign.
“We believe that giving kids ideas for self-care and access to activities that generate endorphins will help them not only cope and thrive when they feel off, but will also help them take care of themselves,” Smith said at the time.
At the festival, businesses will set up booths to showcase what they can offer to kids to help them feel part of the community and share how that activity can help boost confidence and physical ability, and can create endorphins, all while giving kids a place where they feel safe.
Some of the stations will include yoga, dance, karate, art, and music offered by businesses in Wilton as well as from nearby towns. In addition to various groups that have committed to support the event, the Girl Scouts of CT will be on site with the opportunity for every Girl Scout to earn the Wellness—Mind Body and Spirit patch by completing activities offered throughout the event. Many of the activities also can scouts complete badge work for other badges depending on the age level.
Kids will be given a ticket for each booth they visit. They can then use the tickets to enter drawings for a variety of prizes offered by the participating businesses. If they visit all of the booths at the festival and get a stamp on their card, they receive a free ice cream.
The five Ms. President Team members have used their own experiences as motivation for getting the festival started. They are all active — they dance, play basketball, swim and do lots of other things that help them feel better when they don’t feel great. Through research, the team found that physical activity helps release endorphins, which improves mental health. Being involved in physical activities and groups also create a community to support kids that might feel overwhelmed.
“We know when we participate in our activities, we feel better. We want all kids to find their community and to have a group that helps them feel connected when they might feel lonely,” Smith said.
As part of the Ms. President program, the team learned about what it means to participate in the community and how candidates run for office on a platform of their ideas to help improve the community that they live in. They did research in Wilton and surrounding communities and came to realize that mental health was a big concern, especially for middle school and high school kids.
The festival is open to the public and organizers want to welcome kids of all ages, families and other members of the community to come out and enjoy a morning committed to expanding community connections and finding activities to improve overall mental health.
To learn more about the event or if for anyone with an activity to share with kids in the community, reach out to the MPU Wilton Team mspresidentuswilton@gmail.com