One Monday per month, I’ll take a trip down memory lane and reflect on how much diabetes technology, education, and stigma has changed over the years. Remember when…

Okay, so I’m deviating slightly from my typical “Memory Monday” post as I take a walk down *my personal* memory lane. I’m reminiscing about that time I planned a School Walk for Diabetes at my high school as a freshman. This is going to be a two-part “Memory Monday” as next month, I’ll write about how that same year, I had to create a lesson plan and educate a whole group of middle school students about T1D, too!

But let’s focus on this part – the School Walk for Diabetes bit – first.

I’ll admit my memory’s a bit foggy on the matter. But fortunately, I kept the binder that documented my hard work on this project, a binder that was both hilarious and horrifying for me to look through 10 years later. I’ll also admit that it was somewhat impressive; after all, this was a massive project for a high school student to tackle. I had a project partner who contributed a great deal, though, so that absolutely helped make it a success (ahem, we got a 100% – an A+ – as our final grade, NBD).

As I leafed through the binder, I found a description of what it was like to organize the Walk component. We met with a couple of local teachers who were in charge of the event and told them we wanted to do anything we could to assist them as part of our project. After many email exchanges and in-person conversations, we had an action plan for how the day of the Walk would flow.

Here’s my oh-so eloquent description of the day of the walk:

May 31, 2008 – Time Spent on Project: 5 Hours

We arrived at 8:30 to help set up for the Walk. We hung a large sign in front of the school and decorated the track with balloons and motivational signs. For three hours, we stood on the track and punched holes in paper bracelets for the Walk participants as they completed a lap. A reporter was present and took our picture for the paper. The Walk was successful and we raised just under 5,000 dollars for the American Diabetes Association. We helped clean up after the Walk, which took half an hour.

Really riveting material there, huh? But truly, it’s kind of neat to see that my passion for diabetes awareness was strong even in those days. I think participating in this project marked the beginning of my comfort level with my diabetes increasing, and it’s cool to have a record of that.

I could do without the photos of me as an awkward teenager, though…