Bonner Springs Elementary is home to a group of young advocates who serve as the Healthy Kids Crew. Under the leadership of Nurse Tammy Dooley, the Healthy Kids Crew is celebrating its fifth year of making a major impact on the health of students at staff at Bonner Springs Elementary. “It’s a great program where kids get to help others and be seen as leaders. They become role models and also have some extra responsibilities beyond their school work,” says youth advocacy educator, Michelle Dake. Dooley worked with a group of fifth graders to enter KC Healthy Kids’ I Am Here photo contest. The submitted captioned photos to show how their surroundings either help them be healthy or make it harder. They received an honorable mention and attended Champions for Health, KC Healthy Kids’ youth summit in March. See Their Submission Recently, Michelle sat down with the Healthy Kids Crew. Here’s what she found out: MD: Why did you decide to join the Healthy Kids Crew? HKC:
MD: Tell me about the event you all organized for your school. Wellness Week, right? What were your favorite things about that? HKC:
MD: What makes you proud to be part of the Healthy Kids Crew? HKC:
MD: How did the I Am Here program add to your many healthy initiatives? Nurse Dooley: The photos in our submission helped us gain momentum and community support for several projects. First, a parent volunteer came in to paint new games on the blacktop area where the four square paint had faded. Next, the entire community rallied to improve the old water fountain outside of the gym. A combination of Fuel Up to Play 60 funds, their Principal’s support from their building budget and manpower from the district maintenance staff made it possible to get not only a new water fountain, but a water bottle refilling station! Students in the Healthy Kids Crew decided to celebrate the new water filling station by using their $100 award from KC Healthy Kids to buy water bottles for the entire fifth grade to use during Field Day. MD: What tips do you have for other schools that want to start a Healthy Kids Crew? Nurse Dooley:
Along with a new hopscotch board, students added rainbow lines for measuring long jumps. They can stand on the white line and see how far they can jump, hop from line to line or make jump patterns on their own or with a group to create a routine. The white mirror game: One person stands in the white circle and the person in the open circle on the other side mirrors everything they see.
New water bottle refilling station! Comments are closed.
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