A teacher-led initiative has helped produce student leaders in the classroom.
More than 200 students from all three divisions in the Foothills area (Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools, Foothills School Division and the Southern Francophone Education Region) attended the third annual Healthy Active School Symposium (HASS) in High River on Jan. 8.
“We’re trying to inspire the student-voice around wellness in their environment,” said Blackie School principal Fred Woods, who is the Foothills School Division’s comprehensive school health leader.
“Some schools have brought a leadership group and others have pulled from different groups because it is an opportunity for students to go back and support those groups at the schools.”
The Grade 4 to Grade 12 students took in seminars at the Highwood Memorial Centre ranging from yoga, creating a Stomp dance and eating healthy to how the brain works, with Oilfields guidance counsellor Paulette Morck discussing mental health and depression.
“The four areas we looked at were active living, healthy eating, relationships and social-emotional well-being,” Woods said. “There was a session downstairs on DPA (daily physical activity). Those are two-minute activities that can be done in a science class, it’s a body break.”
Dinah Shortt, principal at École Percy Pegler School, said the students can take the strategies back to the school to help their peers — and their teachers.
“If you’re a science teacher and not a phys-ed teacher and trying to get your kids to move in class, maybe he or she doesn’t have the biggest repertoire,” Shortt said. “The kids can come back and say: ‘Hey, let us lead the next DPA.’
“It’s the promotion of leadership and giving kids strategies to live in a healthy way.”
Sharon Rae, a family liaison counsellor at Dr. Morris Gibson School, taught the yoga sessions at the HASS seminar – with the students’ question of “how can you help me become a better leaner?” at the forefront.
“We talked about using breath when you’re uncomfortable or frustrated,” Rae said. “Sometimes you can be frustrated in a difficult yoga pose and the (breathing) tools you use in that pose a student can transfer when they get frustrated in the classroom.”
Peter Ottenbreit, a Grade 9 student at St. John Paul II Collegiate, said he was selected to attend HASS due to his participation in physical education and sports teams. He said what he learned will help all the students, not just those interested in athletics like himself.
“The main thing is going from where you are at — everyone needs to set goals based on how athletic they are,” he said, adding student leaders can help their peers.
“You can try to help them with their goals – to encourage, to help motivate them,” Ottenbreit said. “Just being a good model.”
While he enjoyed the physical aspect of HASS, it was a debate on technology that sparked his interest.
“It was a very impressive debate about technologies,” he said. “It was a thoughtful debate among students about how you should use technology in moderation.”
Jenna Bec, a Blackie School Grade 7 student, said because the HASS participants are students, what they take back to the schools will carry significant weight with peers.
“It’s harder to interact with adults because you don’t feel you can be as open with them,” Bec explained. “It is easier to do with kids who are the same age because they have the same interest as you.”
Red Deer Lake School student Sadie Johnson is part of the school’s Building Hope Society,which helps students in Africa, raved about HASS.
“This is a great place to learn to be a leader,” Johnson said.
