Central Iowa AHEC and BGM Schools Partner on Health Program

July 9th, 2010

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In conjunction with Iowa State University Extension Office and Brooklyn Guernsey Malcom (BGM) High School, Central Iowa AHEC introduced the Youth Health Service Corps (YHSC) curriculum to 22 high school students in the rural town. The program teaches students about healthcare careers and the importance of community service. As members or YHSC, the students were tasked with developing a project to improve the health of the community. Their health awareness campaign, "Health Can Transform You," focused on the prevention of childhood obesity by educating elementary students about healthy eating habits.

For an entire semester, the YHSC group met with third and fourth graders once a week to promote healthy choices. They researched nutrition, created posters to raise awareness about healthy and unhealthy foods and developed fun activities and exercises for the kids. The project culminated in a health fair, which included stations showing the elementary students how to make healthy after-school snacks and a game of Jeopardy! that focused on the five food groups.

Overall, the project was a hit with students and teachers. "It was interesting to see the older students learning about working with younger ones, especially being able to evaluate what they did and how they could do things a little differently to get a more acceptable outcome," said BGM High School teacher Diane Lastovka.

Read the news release.

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