One of Acadia’s most popular student programs kicked off its 2014-15 activities on September 8. Almost 500 students, from first to fourth year, crammed into Huggins Science Hall to hear more about Acadia’s Sensory Motor Instructional Leadership Experience, known on campus and in the community as S.M.I.L.E.

Developed more than 30 years go by Acadia professor Jack Scholz, who wanted to offer children with developmental disabilities an opportunity to swim in Acadia’ s pool, S.M.I.L.E. has come to symbolize how deeply Acadia students care about their community and how committed they are to making a difference while they are in Wolfville – one child at a time. S.M.I.L.E. has often influenced and even changed the course of Acadia students’ careers.

Acadia associate professor and S.M.I.L.E. program director Dr. Roxanne Seaman is among them. At the registration session, Seaman told the group of eager volunteers that her experience with the program while she was an undergraduate student at Acadia convinced her to pursue her PhD in adapted physical education. If students were looking for a positive and enthusiastic promoter of the program, they could not find anyone better than Seaman or her team of approximately two dozen student leaders who helped to organize and coordinate the event.

“It was an incredible feeling knowing that so many students want to commit to something that will positively impact their lives,” Seaman said.  “S.M.I.L.E. is an amazing physical activity program for children, youth, and young adults with varying ability levels.  It is really like a family where everyone works together to ensure that there is success at every level.  I'm excited to welcome all of the students to the Acadia S.M.I.L.E. family!”

S.M.I.L.E. pairs Acadia students with children and older adolescents from throughout central and southwestern Nova Scotia with varying ability levels. To accommodate the more than 200 participants, the program runs four days a week throughout the academic term, including Friday nights and Saturday mornings. To find out more about S.M.I.L.E. visit http://smile.acadiau.ca/Leaders.html