Teen Health Council
5/18/2012: City-Wide Teen Health Council Awards Ceremony
On Wednesday, May 16th the members of Newberry’s Teen Health Council attended an awards ceremony for all recipients of the Mikva Challenge grant across the city of Chicago. Each school created a poster board demonstrating the work they completed and shared with other schools. Our health council displayed survey results, exercise data, photos, and information regarding our April exercise and nutrition initiative. The team was awarded with a certificate of achievement and many compliments from the Mikva/CPS team.
Congratulations to the team members for completion of this project! Great work!
5/7/2012- Completion of the April Health Initiative at Newberry!
The school-wide health initiative at Newberry has come to an end! Newberry students took part in 3 areas of health awareness throughout the month of April:
- Participated in student survey about food and exercise habits/patterns
- Received a nutrition education lesson in science class
- Charted hours of exercise with homeroom class in order to win a field trip.
Our 3 homerooms with the most “stars” charted (hours exercised!) were 116 (PreK), 109 (3rd grade) and 210 (6th grade). Congratulations! You will all be going on a lunch-time field trip to Oz Park at the end of the month!and staff for participating so enthusiastically in our April Health Initiative month!
Thanks to all Newberry students and staff for enthusiastic participation in our Teen Health Council’s Healthy April Challenge!
3/13/2012: Grant Award Received!
Congratulations to the 7th and 8th grade students who participated in Newberry’s Teen Health Council! Newberry has been awarded with a grant to start a health initiative at Newberry, thanks to their hard work and planning!
The Teen Health Council will resume meeting next week to plan and prepare for the health program to be implemented in the Spring.
2/14/2012: Bidders Conference and Application
On Monday, February 13th, a group of our teen health council members attended the 2012 Bidders Conference downtown. Middle and high school schools from all over the city sent teams of students to the conference to come together and share ideas and passion for their projects. The students participated in group activities and break-out sessions all revolving around the obesity problem in schools and how to help reduce it.
The health council will be completing the grant application this week. The school health initiative will be announced after the grants are awarded on March 6th, 2012.
The student council members are showing great leadership and are doing amazing work!
1/17/2012 – Teen Health Council
What is it?
- The Mikva Challenge Teen Health Philanthropy Fund is offering grants of up to $1,000 for youth-driven projects to improve the health and wellness of schools across Chicago. The Mikva THC would fund programs that lead to an increase in physical activity, access to healthy food options in the school, and a new and creative way to teach students about obesity.
Who will be involved?
- Mrs. McKinney and Ms. Holpuch will be supervising 7th and 8th grade student volunteers who want to be a part of the Newberry Teen Health Council. These students will meet twice a week through the week of February 20th to brainstorm a plan that will focus on increasing the health and wellness of students at Newberry.
Why is it important?
- The Mikva Philanthropy Fund states that obesity has become a serious problem for Chicago Youth. Students that were surveyed said that their health curriculum is taught poorly, that their gym classes do not provide enough physical activity, and that there is not enough healthy food provided in their schools.
The goals of this council include:
- Increasing physical activity in schools
- Increasing access to healthy food in schools
- Providing nutritional education to students
More information can be found at the Mikva THC website:
http://www.mikvachallenge.org/healthgrants2012/
