‘Ready Girl’ to the Rescue of School Kids in Peril

By DAWN ELIGIO

Students of the St. Brigid School in Manhattan welcomed a superhero named Ready Girl who spoke to kids about emergency preparedness on Thursday.

In an initiative to educate children on proper planning for emergency situations, the New York City Office of Emergency Management has created Ready the fictional character to teach kids how to plan in times of natural disasters such as flooding, fires, winter storms and hurricanes.

Since October 21, the superhero has visited two schools and will continue to reach out to as many grade school children in the city’s private and public schools as possible, officials said.

St. Brigid, which has 247 enrolled students ranging from preschool to eighth grade, learned about safety in preparation for the arrival of their special guest.

Ready Girl, dressed in a blue, pink and yellow super-suit; RG emblazoned on the chest, walked into a cafeteria decorated with posters made by each class with slogans saying, “Stop, Drop and Roll”, “Teamwork Improves Safety”, “Be Prepared” and “Safety Starts With You”.

“This is the first event we’ve had on emergency planning and we’ll continue to do it twice a year after DST, which is really when households should be planning for emergency situations,” said Principal Steve Hernon.

RG by night, but NYCEM Youth Coordinator by day, Katelyn James helped create her alter ego for kids to identify with. James said it makes the training more effective.

“As youth coordinator, I train people, peers and staff to do kid presentations to teach them to plan for emergencies,” she said. ‘We wanted to find a new way to educate kids to be prepared in a kind of fun, exciting way.”

The students were instructed to memorize important phone numbers, speak to grown-ups about meeting areas in case of emergency, and be prepared with a “Go Bag” of utilities one might need in emergency situations. After James spoke, the students were given yellow drawstring bags with coloring pages and a keychain flashlight. Each child was encouraged to be “Ready Superheroes”.

“When making the talks fun and engaging, the kids grasp more,” James said. “The younger ones, I think, really believed I could fly. By getting a child’s attention that way, they’ll remember the more important things too.”