This Sunday, April 28, 2019 at 4:30 p.m., 108 kids from Sangamon County will take the stage for their grand performance in the Kohl’s Gotta Dance Rising Stars program at Sangamon Auditorium at University of Illinois at Springfield. The performance is about 1.5 hours long and is open to the public at no cost.
HSHS St. John’s Children’s Hospital and Kohl’s Cares team up with professional local dance studios to teach hip hop and modern dance to students in first through eighth grade. Students receive up to 30 free dance classes throughout the year, starting practice in September and culminating in the Rising Stars performance this Sunday.
“On Sunday we will gather together to celebrate a year of hard work and dedication,” said Kim Luz, division director of community outreach at HSHS St. John’s Hospital. “We will celebrate a group of children and adolescents who took a risk to try something new, overcame fears, developed a new skill set, made new friends, improved their self-esteem and learned essential life skills like problem-solving and decision making. Sunday’s performance is a huge accomplishment for our kiddos. We hope the community will rally around this event to celebrate our rising stars.”
The Kohl’s Gotta Dance Rising Stars program is a fun, innovative way to help address childhood health and wellness in our community. It not only introduces students to the art of dance, but it also teaches participants essential life skills for a healthier future. Skills such as verbal and nonverbal communication, problem solving, decision making, accountability, responsibility, teamwork and many more are modeled each week at their dance practices. Additionally, participants are being physically active and having fun!
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About HSHS St. John’s Hospital
HSHS St. John’s Hospital in Springfield, Illinois is a regional medical center offering a comprehensive array of health care services to central and southern Illinois. Founded in 1875, St. John’s is the flagship hospital of Hospital Sisters Health System and is home to the Prairie Heart Institute, St. John’s Children’s Hospital, St. John’s Women’s Services, St. John’s Neurosciences Institute, St. John’s Cancer Center, orthopedic services and AthletiCare. St. John’s now has one of the most advanced surgery centers in the nation and a renovated patient tower with all private rooms. St. John’s is designated as a level I trauma center, has its own college of nursing and is a teaching hospital for the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. For more information about St. John’s Hospital, visit www.st-johns.org.
About Hospital Sisters Health System
Hospital Sisters Health System’s (HSHS) mission is to reveal and embody Christ’s healing love for all people through our high-quality Franciscan health care ministry. HSHS provides state-of-the-art health care to our patients and is dedicated to serving all people, especially the most vulnerable, at each of our 15 local systems and physician practices in Illinois (Breese, Decatur, Effingham, Greenville, Highland, Litchfield, O’Fallon, Shelbyville and Springfield) and Wisconsin (Chippewa Falls, Eau Claire, Oconto Falls, Sheboygan and two in Green Bay). HSHS is sponsored by Hospital Sisters Ministries, and Hospital Sisters of St. Francis is the founding institute. For more information about HSHS, visit www.hshs.org. For more information about Hospital Sisters of St. Francis, visit www.hospitalsisters.org.