Daniella Thompson
New Albany High School alumna Danielle Thompson danced her way into receiving the most prestigious award that can be earned by a Girl Scout.
The Girl Scout Gold Award was presented to Thompson based on her project “Movement Can Help with Physical and Mental Health.”
Combining her passions of dance and helping others, Thompson earned this award by leading weekly movement classes in assisted living homes to stimulate the mind and body of people who reside there.
For Thompson, the idea that movement could help others wasn’t new – it was something she had seen firsthand within her own family. She was inspired not only by her years in the studio but also by watching how simple movement could dramatically improve quality of life.
Going for the gold
To apply for the Gold Award, a Girl Scout must undertake a minimum 80-hour project that focuses on a problem in a community and finds a sustainable impact to help the issue.
Thompson spoke with her grandmother, who had been taking movement classes, and she claimed to be happier, more awake and, overall, feeling better after class.
Thompson had this idea in the back of her mind and decided to pursue it as her Gold Award project. From there, she investigated the connection between movement and health benefits in senior citizens.
Gathering information from health websites, licensed movement professionals such as yoga instructors and knowledge she already possessed from 15 years of dance classes, Thompson designed and taught classes specifically for elderly people.
Get the movement started
Danielle Thompson
Tammy Wharton, CEO of Girl Scouts of Ohio's Heartland Council (left), Thompson (middle) and Sarah Converse, local meteorologist (right).
Thompson led her class once a week for 45 minutes at Gables of Westerville and StoryPoint Gahanna North assisted living communities. The workouts were low-impact, high repetition moves that would prove useful for residents in everyday tasks such as pushing a wheelchair or standing up from a low-sitting chair.
Professionals at the assisted living homes suggested the high repetition exercises to build strength in the muscles needed most, but also to help with memory retention. The repetition of the exercises encouraged those struggling with memory loss to engage more while in class and improve their cognitive skills.
Thompson created pamphlets that modeled an at-home exercise, then spoke about the muscle group targeted by that movement to pair with her classes.
She also designed memory tracing cards to help residents who had memory loss conditions. Tracing cards strengthen neural pathways and improve cognitive flexibility – resulting in increased memory retention, attention span and visual processing.
The pamphlets and memory cards were passed out at assisted living homes, churches and other local care facilities. There was also a QR code linking the exercises and target muscles to promote more movement within the community.
Beyond the project
Danielle Thompson
Thompson (right) with fellow dancers Jacqueline Triplett (left) and Aiyana Orrante (middle).
Thompson only had to teach for 80 hours to earn her Gold Award, but she enjoyed her classes so much that she continued teaching even after she earned her award. She got to know the participants individually, and through their personal connection, she measured their strength and improvement in her classes.
She was open to all ideas and always took into consideration how their bodies would feel after classes. The senior citizens reported back that after taking her classes, they felt more agile, had a greater sense of overall happiness and had more peace of mind knowing they could get themselves out of difficult situations because they felt stronger.
Thompson noticed improvements as well, and by the end of classes, the participants started moving chairs and hanging out to talk afterwards.
“They were telling me how they weren’t eating dinners in their room, that they were going out and socializing with other people. That showed me that I was making a difference,” she says.
Thompson credits her mom as a major force in the project, helping her get in touch with the assisted living communities, laminating pamphlets and staying up late to help work on details of the project.
Thompson also credits being a Girl Scout for giving her the desire to help people and dance as the reason she is so disciplined.
Having recently moved to Oxford to attend her first year of college at Miami University, Thompson is studying data science, and she plans on staying involved in the dance world by trying out for the Miami University Dance Club. She’s also thinking about leading more movement classes in that area.
Luisa Christian is an editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
