2020 EDUCATION MAGAZINE

Page 6 2020 Education Magazine LINCOLN DAILY NEWS FEBRUARY 20, 2020 thanks to the help from fabulous colleagues and business partners right here in Logan County. I pitched the idea to Angela Stoltzenburg who runs the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital Community Health Collaborative because I wanted G.R.I.T. to mimic the successful CATCH program she and others implemented in area schools, where students would see the G.R.I.T. logo in the halls and be mindful of coping strategies. She, and so many others, helped me transform the idea to a full day-long workshop for seventh graders in the fall, our inaugural event. The G.R.I.T. workshop brought most area seventh graders to the meeting site at Lincoln Christian Church where students were introduced to the Wellness Widget, a wheel of areas of focus that work toward the wellness of a whole person. After the widget was mentioned in the keynote speech, the students had a variety of speakers with topics that could be found on the widget. For example, Katy Reynolds focused on financial health, Adam Quine on spiritual and emotional health, Lesli Hake on social health, and Mario Canon, Grant Cooper, Nikki Chapman and Deiy Shuff on physical health, among others expert speakers and topics, all connecting the students to themselves and the widget. The ALMH Community Health Collaborative sponsored the day-long workshop and over 50 volunteers from all over the community, including Logan County Department of Public Health, First Presbyterian Church of Lincoln, The Center for Creativity and Community, Lincoln Park District, Lincoln College, Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Chicago, Logan County Education Coalition and more, assisted in the planning and implementation of the first G.R.I.T. workshop. The Illinois Youth Survey, taken by eighth, 10th, and 12th grade students every other year, shows trends in substance use, mental health risks and other health issues are on the rise. The data is shared with those who hope to see the trends move downward in the areas of unhealthy choices. Since the inception of G.R.I.T. workshop for seventh graders in September, the planners have met again with local officials to see what interventions the county and schools are already working on, to make sure we are scaffolding on the skills, rather than reinventing them at each step. Through the partnership with the Lincoln Park District, ALMH CHC, LCDPH and more, we are thrilled to offer a fourth grade version of G.R.I.T. on March 20th at the Lincoln Park District. All area fourth graders are invited to learn about the Wellness Widget overall, Continued p