2019 WELLNESS
MAGAZINE

Area students learn about healthy lifestyle choices
By Angela Reiners

Send a link to a friend  Share

[February 20, 2019]  On Friday, February 15, around 250 area fifth grade students learned more about healthy lifestyle choices from various speakers at the Fifth Grade Wellness Expo at the Lincoln Park District. The youth expo is hosted by the Park District in conjunction with the Logan County Department of Public Health and the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital Community Health Collaborative.

Schools participating this year included:



Zion Lutheran



Mount Pulaski



Chester East Lincoln



West Lincoln Broadwell

Hartsburg Emden, New Holland Middletown, Northwest, Washington Monroe and Central also attended.



The morning’s activities began with “Get Up and Move,” which allowed students time to get moving and burn off some energy.

Students then went to interactive breakout sessions where they heard from four different speakers about issues they may be facing at their age and into the teen years.

Students learn about substance abuse



Chris Schaffner spoke to students about substance abuse. He began by asking how many knew someone their age who uses drugs or alcohol and several raised their hands. Schaffner said they would have some hard decisions to make because research shows that in junior high and high school, many experiment with drugs or alcohol. He told kids, “You need to decide if you are going to be one of those people,” and said those people are not bad, they are just making bad choices.

Schaffner showed students the animated video “Nugget” with a bird repeatedly eating a substance until eventually becoming addicted.

He asked the students what they saw, and they said the bird was using drugs and was soon addicted, just running right to the substance without thinking about it. One student said maybe the bird decided to stop, but by then it was too late because of all the damage done. Another thought it eventually died from the effects.

Schaffner said what started out as fun for the bird did not work as much, and soon was not as much fun. The bird could not fly or jump as high and life got darker as the substance affected it both physically and mentally.

Schaffner told students making healthy choices is important because if you try drugs, it rewires your brain and makes it hard to live without drugs.

He then had the students practice saying “no” when he asked them to “try” smoking, drugs, and alcohol. He asked the kids what they would say and do if it was their best friend asking them and some said they would just say no, try to help the friend, and tell the friend drugs are disgusting.



This session ended with students writing messages on poster board about not using drugs.

Students learn the importance of making good choices



DARE Officer Christy Fruge spoke to the children about Good Choices. Fruge asked students about good choices and goals and wrote out a list that included getting a scholarship, going to college, staying healthy, and getting a good paying job.

The other list was of bad choices and students said they include lying, being rude, damaging property, breaking the law, doing drugs and smoking.

Fruge said making poor choices may keep you from being able to attain some of your goals. The good choices relate to future goals and bad choices can affect these goals. She told students every decision can affect your future, so it important to make good choices.

Students learn about managing emotions



Cynthia Fedor talked to students about Mental Health and dealing with different emotions.

[to top of second column

Fedor asked for volunteers to hold up signs that listed different emotions and feelings such as stressed, scared, suicidal, angry, sad, happy, joyful and silly.

She asked the kids which emotions they should think about before acting, and she had big signs that said ‘Go,’ ‘Slow,’ and ‘Whoa.’ The student would stand by the Go sign if it was an emotion where you could go and do something, the Slow sign if the emotion required thinking before acting, and the Whoa sign if the emotion required stopping before making choices.



A list showing problem solving through your emotions had a stoplight with red representing Whoa, yellow representing Slow, and green representing Go.

  • With Whoa, you define the problem, identify the choices, and identify the plusses and minuses of each choice.

  • With Slow, you determine the best choice based on the plusses and minuses after talking with an adult.

  • With Go, you act on the decision and evaluate the results.

Students decided emotions such as anger or stress are Whoa emotions, while being silly is a Slow emotion, and being happy is a Go emotion.

Fedor told students they need to learn to listen to their emotions because they can be extreme and hard to handle, and emotions such as anger may require distance. She taught them how to monitor and manage emotions.

Students learn about cyberbullying



Jennifer Keith led a session on Cyber Bullying. Keith said the cyber part is on computer, desktops, tablets, phones, email, and emojis and is sometimes done anonymously. The bullying is seeking to harm or hurt someone usually through a repeated action.

Cyberbullies share negative or mean content or personal, private information to cause embarrassment and it is persistent and permanent.

Adults do not see the information unless it is reported, and Keith told students they need to report it.

Keith showed students statistics that reported:

  • 34 percent of people from ages 12-25 have faced nasty or abusive comments online.

  • 68 percent sent vulgar texts.

  • 41 percent developed social anxiety.

Keith asked students to go stand by one of four posters:

Blue if they had been made fun of for their looks.

Green if they had been made fun of for something they wore.



Yellow if they had been made fun of for something they said.

Orange if they had been made fun of for something they did.

They could stay in the middle if they had never been made fun of.

But everyone stood by one of the posters.

Keith then asked the kids how it felt, and most said bad or sad. She reminded them anything they post is not private and reminded them that others can use what is posted against them.

The kids were asked to stand by the various posters if they had said, done, or wore something to make someone mad on purpose or if they had told someone’s secret to others. She said to the students, maybe you felt power when you did something like that, but you felt bad when you got caught.

Keith explained how cyberbullying affects the victims, bullies and witnesses:

  • Victims may be embarrassed to report it to adults and become depressed, withdrawn, and lose interest in social situations.

  • Bullies hide in cyberspace because they do not want to get caught, have “keyboard courage” when they cannot see a victim’s reaction, and like to create pain or be liked by a “mob.”

  • Witnesses often scroll through comments but do not stand up for the victim, worry that standing up for victims will make them a target, and may lose interest in social situations to avoid watching it happen.

Cyberbullying can happen because the victim does not seem like a real person online and the bullies may not consider their actions, Keith said. She told the students to think and ask whether something is true, helpful, inspiring, necessary or kind before posting, and if not, do not post.

Keith showed them a video of her dancing and said if she posted it on youtube, she would need to be prepared for how people may respond. She told the students, what you think is awesome, hilarious, and great, others may not like and may make mean comments about it. You need to realize people may not be nice and you will need to learn how to handle that.



As the morning’s activities drew to a close, all the groups came back together for a wrap up discussion and evaluation time.

The fifth graders were also able to participate in a photo contest in which the students submitted photos depicting themselves participating in their favorite activity. First, second, and third place winners were announced in the closing session and photos were displayed at Saturday's Community Wellness Expo.

At the Wellness Expo, these students learned many tips for not abusing substances, making good choices, handling emotions, and dealing with cyberbullying.


[Photos by Mitch Douglas]

 

Back to top