Mother Teresa School took home the "Healthy School Cup" award during the Medicine Hat Wellness Leadership Conference on Wednesday. Leadership students Kirsten Reetz, Harlo VanDam, Harlow Vossler, Mila Schaitel, Dahnya Franchetto, Alexis Marshall, Hailey Zhou, Malin Lecorps and Mr. Kelly accepted the award on behalf of the school.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
Leadership students representing Mother Teresa School claimed this year’s Healthy School Cup award during an annual Student Leadership Wellness Conference held at the college Wednesday.
The wellness challenge that started in 2016 is open to all four school divisions around the Hat and tasks schools and educators with developing a wellness initiative or project aimed to create a healthier school community.
The school was recognized for implementing its ‘Facing It Together’ or FIT Fridays. To end the school week students at Mother Teresa focus on the ‘Five Pillars’ of health and wellness.
Sonya Brown, lead AHS Health School Team, told the News that students and staff implemented a weekly message for wellness by adding it into their curriculum and that it’s a unique idea she encourages other schools to consider.
“To dedicate one day where they’re focusing on the five pillars of health and wellness – nutrition, digital, spiritual, mental and physical – and they get to travel and learn about these things, and are really being purposeful about it. I think is really life changing for those students,” Brown said. “I hope maybe that model could be implemented in other schools as well.”
Every spring the AHS Health School Team, a collaboration between the provincial health-care provider and several community groups, accepts submissions from local schools.
A committee reviews submissions and declares which school is worthy of hoisting the award, an engraved plaque displaying the winning school that will be hung throughout the remainder of the school year.
“It’s really fun because we’ve had schools from Prairie Rose and Medicine Hat Public, so it’s really exciting especially for the division because it’s also bragging rights for the division,” Brown said.
The award was presented during the annual Student Leadership Wellness Conference, held each fall at Medicine Hat College for leadership students, and aims to empower youth to make meaningful changes at their schools.
More than 220 students from Grades 4-6 representing 22 schools across southeast Alberta attended the day-long conference, which is split between activities and brainstorming sessions.
In the morning students participated in breakout sessions that focused on health and wellness, as well as Indigenous wellness through traditional games and team-building activities, plus youth and philanthropy sessions.
In the afternoon students attended breakout sessions and developed action plans and student-led strategies and goals to improve their school’s wellness.
The conference is held in the fall specifically to provide schools enough time to implement some of the students’ projects throughout the past year.
“The goal is that they have a plan in place. They have a written plan in place. And then they can go back to their school and implement some of those ideas,” says Brown. “To go back and share with the school community, whether that be in an assembly to share with other students leaders, and then those leaders will incorporate those ideas into the school.”
Some additional sessions included ‘Giving Back to the Community,’ ‘Indigenous Education’ and ‘Students are Change Makers.’
“I really believe that if we’re putting on these events, students can really learn to come into who they are and be proud of the difference they bring to the table,” said Brown. “And understand how they can take care of their bodies and their minds.
“Nourishing their bodies with health foods and surrounding themselves with positive people in their friendships groups, and truly being a leader and demonstrating what that looks like, is so important.”
