BY LOREEN BERLIN: Students at Eisenhower Elementary School in Garden Grove received a treat last Friday when the co-founder of Angie’s BOOMCHICKAPOP popcorn company visited their school to talk about celebrating the uniqueness of oneself.<\/p>\n

Students also received some of the popcorn produced by her company.<\/p>\n

Angie Bastian shared that she and her husband, Dan, started BOOMCHICKAPOP in 2001 in Minnesota where they live; the purpose was to make money for their children's college fees and to do something together as a family.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

BY LOREEN BERLIN: Students at Eisenhower Elementary School in Garden Grove received a treat last Friday when the co-founder of Angie’s BOOMCHICKAPOP popcorn company visited their school to talk about celebrating the uniqueness of oneself.<\/p>\n

Students also received some of the popcorn produced by her company.<\/p>\n

Angie Bastian shared that she and her husband, Dan, started BOOMCHICKAPOP in 2001 in Minnesota where they live; the purpose was to make money for their children's college fees and to do something together as a family.<\/p>\n

They started their business in their garage, wanting to teach their children the value of hard work while having fun along the way and they wanted a snack they could feel good about feeding their children and the world.<\/p>\n

They also wanted a flavorful snack with real ingredients that could be found in a kitchen, not in a lab.<\/p>\n

"We wanted snacks packed with energy, not guilt; snacks that would keep the joy in snacking with bright bags that radiate all the love and fun that is put into them from the beginning. After all, isn’t that what snacking should be about? We couldn’t agree more,” said Angie Bastian.<\/p>\n

Eisenhower kindergarten teacher Jami Marseilles is in the new commercial about BOOMCHICKAPOP that will air soon on television as part of Real food, Real people and Real stories — about making healthy choices and good food choices.<\/p>\n

Bastian challenged the students be extraordinary.<\/p>\n

"You can do it," she said. "Imagine it and you can do it."<\/p>\n

Why popcorn? Because it's healthy; it's a whole grain product that combined with eating vegetables good for you.<\/p>\n

In a National Health and Nutrition survey published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, those who eat popcorn get 250-percent more whole grains in their diet than people who don’t eat popcorn. Three cups of popped popcorn (one heaping tablespoon) equals one of the three recommended servings of whole grains, adding up to only 105 calories without butter.<\/p>\n

BOOMCHICKAPOP is one of the nation’s largest brands of better-for-you popcorn.<\/p>\n

Bastian made the special stop at Eisenhower to encourage students to unleash their potential, and to spark healthy conversations around positive self-esteem.<\/p>\n

Two sixth grade students, Angelica Colin and Joy Nguyen, prepared a presentation on optimism, cheerfulness and positivity for the other students gathered for the outdoor assembly.<\/p>\n

"Being positive is being upbeat and gleeful and it's OK to accept who you are and how the world is," they said. "Get rid of those people around you who lower down your feelings…"<\/p>\n

The two students mentioned eating healthy food and listening to music as a way to stay positive and to be around positive people and not be drawn into people's negativity.<\/p>\n

"Our flaws and imperfections can be what makes us unique and makes us who we are. Think positive and have a positive attitude and spread positivity,” they said.<\/p>\n

The visit was made possible with the help of teacher Jami Marseilles, who set a world record last year as the first female bilateral amputee to complete the Boston Marathon.  Marseilles and Bastian met earlier this year shooting, "Real stories of Real women" as part of Bastian’s advertising initiatives, which included Marseille’s inspirational story of perseverance. <\/p>\n

“Jami is the type of teacher who inspires and motivates every student she meets,” said Dr. George West, Garden Grove Unified School District Board of Education president. “She is a living example of perseverance and what it looks like to overcome life’s most challenging obstacles.”<\/p>\n

Marseilles has run five half marathons and numerous other races as well as having participated in the U.S. Paralympics. After completing the marathon, Marseilles had the honor of throwing the first pitch at a Boston Red Sox game Her colleagues and students at Eisenhower helped her practice her pitch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY LOREEN BERLIN: Students at Eisenhower Elementary School in Garden Grove received a treat last Friday when the co-founder of Angie’s BOOMCHICKAPOP popcorn company visited their school to talk about celebrating the uniqueness of oneself. Students also received some of the popcorn produced by her company. Angie Bastian shared that she and her husband, Dan, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":1738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocn.archives.ocnnewspapers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1737"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocn.archives.ocnnewspapers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocn.archives.ocnnewspapers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocn.archives.ocnnewspapers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocn.archives.ocnnewspapers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1737"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ocn.archives.ocnnewspapers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4552,"href":"https:\/\/ocn.archives.ocnnewspapers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1737\/revisions\/4552"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocn.archives.ocnnewspapers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocn.archives.ocnnewspapers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocn.archives.ocnnewspapers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocn.archives.ocnnewspapers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}