My name is Anne Hunter, I'm from Philadelphia, PA, and I work as a Case Manager (on contract) at the Delaware County Dept. of Human Services in Upper Darby, PA. I’ve been working in the field of behavioral health and human services for over 11 years, and I've been a certified Shazzy Instructor since the fall of 2015.
I have always been involved in sports. I played sports in junior and senior high school. Later on, I coached tennis and girls basketball. After I stopped coaching I continued staying physically active. I welcome dance because there's so many different forms of it to explore. I heard about Shazzy Fitness through the Internet. At the time I was searching how to enhance my skills as an educator and further my career in Health Education. I also wanted to improve my effectiveness working with children. I am fortunate to be doing what I love, and that's working in the Sunday school department at my church. I'm also involved in my community and have volunteered for several educational and fitness events centered around children. Last year I started my blog ChildrenFoodandFitness.com, to highlight issues related to children's health. I love history and story-telling, and believe that God gifted me to tell stories that bring about an awareness of an issue, to stimulate an idea, and to stimulate growth or change.
I’ve been teaching Sunday school at my church for 15 years. At my church we’re always doing something creative for the children. Some Sundays we’ll learn a new song or have the children practice learning Scripture for a play. One Sunday a month I teach Sunday school at an emergency housing women’s and children’s shelter. One of the challenges of teaching Sunday school is getting the children to maintain focus. What better way to get them to focus than to have them perform a dance routine! Creative movement activities have been used to enhance areas of learning and growth. As a Sunday school teacher I’ve learned there are different ways to approach teaching the Scripture.
When I learned about the Shazzy Fitness certification classes I decided I would complete the class and use the skills to teach dance at the shelter. Since I was talking about the Bible, I knew I needed to use Christian music and family oriented-dance moves, and Shazzy Fitness fit right in. Shazzy Fitness is my first certification, but my goal is to obtain a certification as a health education specialist (CHES) and later on obtain an ACE specialty certification.
Since I got certified, I’ve been following a routine of teaching children several dance moves, then going into the Bible lesson for the day. I teach Shazzy Fitness at the shelter, but I was also asked to perform a Shazzy Fitness routine for several children an Angel Tree event last December. I began my performance by telling the children about the history of bells and how Christians used them to announce worship services. To illustrate my presentation I pretended that I was a messenger and I asked the children if they wanted to be my junior messengers. While I danced to music the children rung jingle bells. It was fantastic! I’ll continue teaching brief dance lessons and practicing my Shazzy moves until I form a class. I want to maximize my potential as a health educator and I'm happy to be a part of Shazzy Fitness. The Shazzy Fitness family is full of love and filled with people who encourage others to yield their body as God's temple.
Are you or someone you know interested in joining the fastest-growing faith-based dance Instructor Team? Our Online Instructor Certification Training is available now. If you're ready to share the joy of faith and fellowship through fitness, please contact us - we'd love to hear from you :)