The Demopolis Pilot Club visited Westside Elementary School on Monday and spoke to two groups of first-graders about the importance of protecting their brains.

The visit coincided with “Brain Awareness Week,” a time when Pilot Clubs around the world as people to be more aware of the health and well-being of their brains.

“We did a little puppet show to teach the students how to take care of their brains,” said Demopolis Pilot Club president Andrea Ward. “We used animal buddies like Gerald Giraffe, Penny Panda, Fiona Fox, Martin Monkey and the wise old owl. This was part of our BrainMinders project.”

Members of the Demopolis Pilot Club have been to every first-grade class in the county, awarding one student from each class a bicycle safety helmet.

“We’ve been to eight schools and seen 21 first-grade classes,” Ward said. “We also gave helmets to (WES principal) Connie Brown to go with the scooters that students will win with the Tiger Rally fund-raiser. All of the students got a coloring book and a certificate. We saw about 315 first-graders.”

Ward narrated the story told by the wise old owl about his animal buddies, and Paula Parr, Brenda Williams and Carolyn Squires took part in the puppet show.

Demopolis mayor Mike Grayson proclaimed March 15-21 as Brain Awareness Week in the city of Demopolis.