Red Sneaker Day Spotlight: Makena Bactat

Red Sneaker Days provides a “day” when everyone wears their red sneakers/shoes (or anything red) and participates together to raise awareness for the dangers of food allergies. The goal is not only to increase education and awareness to the communities of those suffering with food allergies, but just as importantly, to educate those who are not directly affected by them.

My name is Makena Bactat and I have been a Girl Scout for the past 12 years. The highest award a Girl Scout can achieve is the Gold Award. This project requires 80 hours of dedication, commitment, leadership and many other qualities from the girl. It has been my dream since I was a little girl to complete this project. A cool fact about my project is that my fifth grade tile, which is a tile many fifth graders paint before graduating to the neighboring middle school, had the hashtag OIT works. Walking by my tile before going to teach the classes was a full circle moment for me and helped keep me motivated.

I partnered with Red Sneakers For Oakley to help spread awareness to food allergies. I have a deadly peanut allergy that has affected my life, and I wanted my project to focus on helping spread awareness to our youth. I traveled to Don Juan Avila Elementary School to teach the fourth grade classes about food allergies and how to be kind to their peers who might struggle with them. I designed a worksheet, a presentation, and was able to hand out bracelets and pencils thanks to the team from Red Sneakers For Oakley. I measured my progress and success through quizzes before and after my lesson plan. 

I had an amazing team that helped me complete this project. Food allergies are a serious issue that I was able to help the youth understand. They now know how to help and prevent allergic reactions when they see them. I truly was blessed with the ability to teach and this opportunity has changed me. Thank you Red Sneakers For Oakley, and thank you Oakley for helping me stay motivated through this whole process! I cannot wait to continue to spread awareness in my community now!