Reflections by Ronee – Christopher Columbus Science Awards

I wouldn’t call myself a professional actress, but I do have a blast playing an occasional starring role in our Flutter FETTI® celebrations.  During the annual Christopher Columbus Science Awards at Disney World, I play the role of conductor for our amazing “visual symphony” and I absolutely love it!

Each year, this impressive national competition brings together middle school students who develop and deliver science projects with a goal of improving the community.  Only 10 top schools participate in this weeklong event involving almost 100 children, their coaches, and their parents.

The amazing week ends with a big banquet where prizes are announced and school scholarships are presented.  As if it weren’t enough to shoot off confetti after every award is presented, this is when the visual symphony takes center stage.

For the grand finale, all the kids receive a card congratulating them as Science Geniuses and a bag filled with our 18” hand-flick Airless Launchers.  Suddenly a video begins to play showing me in my wacky Flutter FETTI suit explaining how to use the launchers.  Before the video ends I say, “I must be out there somewhere… do you see me?”  The 2001 Space Odyssey theme begins to blare from the loudspeakers and I run out from the back room to the center of the floor.  As I conduct the song like an orchestra conductor, I point to teams of children at different sections of the room who then shoot off their Airless Launchers on command.  At the conclusion, 40 shots of “special effects” streamers fly out over the audience from our pre-set Master Blaster Launchers.

As the streamers soar overhead, these kids who are normally quite shy and reserved break out of their shells and start rockin’ and rollin’ and dancing the night away!  It’s like out of nowhere they traded their incredible intellect for groovy dance moves.  Even the parents are so amazed that I’ve heard them say “I’ve never seen my kid dance before”!

To cap it off, we use our 6” Continuous Flow Gerb Launchers to shower the dancers with die-cut hearts, die-cut stars, and other really cool shaped confetti!  By the time all the confetti has hit the ground, the kids are ecstatic and literally covered in confetti and wrapped in streamers.  Nobody is left sitting in a seat, everyone has had a ball (even the waiters have joined in), and best of all the stress of the competition is finally over.  I can’t wait for next year and don’t be surprised if you see me practicing my conductor skills!