Warrior Wellness: An inside look at Willowbrook’s Health Education classes

By Willowbrook physical education teachers Rachel Karos, Eddie DeLaCruz and Steve Belknap

Willowbrook students are working hard every day to become more educated with their health and wellness, and we are thrilled to showcase those accomplishments through this monthly column. In this edition, we are proud to highlight Willowbrook’s Health Education classes.

The main goal for our Health Education classes is to better our student’s health literacy and knowledge to help them make informed decisions and become advocates for themselves and others. Throughout the first semester of the 2019-20 school year, we have worked with our students in engaging, hands-on activities to connect the information learned in class to their real lives. We’re so proud of the work our students have done, and below is an overview of what they’ve accomplished.

  • Mindful Mondays: We devote the first 15 minutes of Monday classes to refocusing and reflecting. We do a variety of journaling activities, as well as zentangle, soft belly breathing and laughter yoga.

  • Health and Wellness: Students reflected on their overall health and wellness and began to analyze different influences on their health. Students learned health is not only physical, but it also is social and emotional. All areas of health are equally important and impact one another.

  • Body Systems: Students researched their assigned body systems and created informative posters. Those posters not only educated their classmates, but also helped make the connections of how body systems interact.

  • Communicable Disease and Non-Communicable Disease: From the common cold to Ebola and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), students gained knowledge on how to prevent infectious diseases. Students learned about prevention, signs and symptoms, treatments and risk factors associated with non-communicable diseases (such as cancers, heart disease and diabetes).

  • First Aid/CPR: Students were educated on how to help others in various first-aid scenarios, including broken bones, severe bleeding, seizures, insulin shock, poisoning, administering an EpiPen and adult/child/infant CPR.

  • Nutrition: Students participated in a Healthy Food Truck Expo, where they created 3-D model food trucks and menus with healthy signature dishes (pictured above). Some students even used this opportunity to cook their signature meal for their family members at home.

  • Mental Health

    • We began the Mental Health Unit with a great presentation from Willowbrook Guidance Counselor Kim Mikesell (pictured above, at right). She showed students the ins and outs of supports available to them at school.

    • We also hosted our annual National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) presentations for students. Presenters aim to decrease the stigma surrounding mental health illness.

    • We introduced Mental Health Check-in Boards, where students can anonymously check in on the board, and the teacher will reach out to them within 24 hours. The goal is to help students build better connections and provide them with an outlet to express how they’re feeling.

    • Mental Health Advocacy Projects: Students created flyers and posters with various information about mental health, including mental health celebrity success stories, counselor interviews and local organization information (pictured above, top). Some students created anti-stigma T-shirts, which will be available for staff and students to buy (pictured above, bottom).

Future topics will include:

  • Alcohol, tobacco and other drugs

  • Human sexuality and relationships

  • A presentation on Dec. 9 and 10 from Family Shelter Service regarding dating violence