Healthy School Team Success Stories 

Winter Park Consortium

Healthy School Team leaders in the Winter Park Consortium have had four years to try out healthy school projects, big and small.  The leaders meet together once a month with Jana Ricci, Healthy School Teams Coordinator, to exchange ideas and sometimes work on projects together.

Here are some of the leaders’ favorite and most successful, free and low-cost projects to date:

Aloma Elementary

Kathy Styron, HST Leader and Physical Education Instructor

Since Styron teaches PE, she makes sure the monthly school wellness themes are covered in PE class. She recommends the PE teacher be part of the school’s HST and be willing to incorporate wellness information into classes. Styron tapes Wellness Wednesday announcements every Tuesday, usually focused on the month's health theme or some other related activity, such as sign-ups for sports. “Bulletin boards are a great way to keep the information visible and on everyone’s minds - we have one in the hallway and one in the staff lounge.  I email the staff regularly about nutrition and exercise information.” 

Organizing a staff walking group involves no cost, and organizing a running/walking club for the kids involves little or no cost. When funds are needed—perhaps for healthy snacks, award tokens or water bottles—Styron said she seeks support from groups like the school’s PTA and Partners in Education.

Audubon Park Elementary

Wayne Talbott, HST Leader and Physical Education Instructor

Successful low- and no-cost projects have included sending a Health Tip of the Week to staff in weekly emails. Staff members also participate in a school running team that entered the Insurance Office of America Corporate 5K run. The staff loves this event, and it provides a great team-building experience, he said. Talbott also is in charge of the “Coach’s Corner” segment of televised Friday morning school announcements.  During Coach’s Corner, Talbott shares pictures of students involved in exercise they like to do and reports on fitness opportunities such as upcoming races and sports camps. The segment also includes Student Spotlights during which students come in to share what they are doing that is fitness related, such as participating in sports and road races. Kids love seeing their schoolmates on TV.  In addition, Talbott is involved in a monthly event called “Coach on the Road.”  “I take one Saturday per month and go see students play games and run races,” he said, adding, the only rule is they have to provide a schedule ahead of time so the visits can be coordinated. The participating students then appear on “Coach's Corner” to share experiences.   

Brookshire Elementary

Randi Topps, HST Co-Leader and Physical Education Instructor

Ann Legg, HST Co-Leader and Guidance Counselor

Morning fitness clubs have been one of the most popular additions to healthy school activities, according to Topps. The swimming club is popular and drew 25 regular participants during the first nine weeks of school.  When the nearby pool gets cold, the school begins track club, which has had as many as 14 participants.

Topps also holds before-school training for students participating in events such as the Fast Start Invitational track and field event and the Smile Mile race.  In addition, there is a jump rope club that operates throughout the school year.  The group performs at one PTA/parent night each year.

Clubs are free, unless snacks are offered, but there also needs to be a source for lifeguard wages and pool for the swimming lessons. She is considering adding other sport-related clubs after school.

In addition, “Wellness Wednesdays” are featured on Brookshire’s morning closed circuit broadcast, the "AM Bulldog Show," said Legg.  A school might start out having the HST leader do a short presentation about healthy topics (such as exercise, nutrition, the food pyramid or brain gym activities). They might then have other members of the HST (such as the nurse or guidance counselor) do a short presentation on future Wednesdays.  At Brookshire, the HST has started having older students prepare wellness presentations.

Cheney Elementary School

Faye Denniston, HST Leader and Physical Education Instructor

One of the best-loved ideas at Cheney is the school-wide walk. “Everyone stopped four times a year and participated in a mile walk around the school fields. At the end of the walk we handed out water bottles to all. Everyone loved the fresh air and change in their daily routines,” said Denniston.

Cheney also has a staff walking program and participants registered with American on the Move and logged mileage. Awards were given for the three best walkers. And when it is time for the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests (FCAT), the HST hosted a staff stress relief day featuring soft music and stress relief lotions.

Last year’s Field Day was a Fun and Fitness Field day, Denniston said. They had some traditional field day events and some new fitness stations. They did Fitness Mats (GeoMats), karate demos and exercises and Hip Hop dancing.They also had a healthy lunch, she said.

Dommerich Elementary School

Angela Goetz, HST Leader and teacher

The running club has been one of the Dommerich HST’s biggest successes and can be implemented with minimal funds, Goetz said.  Other successful ideas include requesting that all children have a water bottle to bring to school and sending out a list of healthy snacks to parents.

Hungerford Elementary School

Vicki Felter, HST Leader and Physical Education Instructor

Nutrition lessons are free and can be very effective, said Felter. The lessons can begin with the food pyramid and students can then use it to plan their own menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Felter said she and the students then discuss the menus and figure out ways to make them healthier. Later, students can bring in canned and packaged foods to read food labels to their class. (During the holidays, Felter included these activities in a food drive for needy families living near the school.) Felter said at lunch she has students read labels from their milk carton and other packaged foods. This lesson can introduce all kinds of vocabulary words. If money is available, students can make salads and discuss the food values and where the food items can be found on the food pyramid. For homework, students can go shopping with families, read food labels at the store to pick healthy foods and then tell the class about the experience.

Another successful activity is the school’s 5k run/ walk, Felter said. The expense is water and bananas. A track can be any safe place. Students begin to train several months in advance. They learn to pace themselves and to know when they need water. They may walk as well as run. A ribbon can be given to any student participating. Families are invited and staff participates--it is fun for everyone. Students get to spend time exercising with parents and teachers. Any participation is considered a success. The students running the longest distance--one student from each grade level--and the overall top three win an extra award.

Lake Sybelia Elementary School

Susan Maddox, HST Leader and teacher

At Lake Sybelia Elementary, a morning running club that meets twice a week has been very successful, according to Maddox. The team pays a PE assistant to sponsor the club, but she suggested a teacher could do this and count it as her morning duty.  “The kids love it and it is easy to plan,” she said.

Winter Park 9^th Grade Center

Stacy Julian, HST co-leader and Staffing Specialist/Learning Strategies Teacher

At the Winter Park 9^th Grade Center, the HST sponsors “Got Caught” projects. Team members hand out raffle tickets to students who are “caught” participating in healthy behaviors such as drinking water at lunch, according to Julian. This could be applied to other healthy behaviors such as eating fruits and vegetables or drinking milk.  She said the team purchased $10 gift certificates to a movie theater and drew two winning student names from each lunch period at the end of the day. When the event was announced ahead of time, the HST noticed more students drinking water.

Julian said the HST also provides healthy tips over the morning announcements and had students and teachers read a tip based on the HST’s monthly theme.  An example:

Did you know? Eating breakfast promotes proper growth and maximizes school performance, too. That's because it's usually easier for breakfast-eaters to meet their daily nutritional needs. Breakfast sets the pattern for nutritious eating throughout the rest of the day. 

The rest of the announcements for the month focused on the benefits of eating breakfast.  Others tips have focused on the benefits of drinking water, fitness, eating fruits and vegetables, as well as stress busters. Julian said she also put the tips on a bulletin board in the cafeteria. 

Winter Park High School

Chris Watson, RN, HST Leader and School Nurse

Winter Park’s HST success stories include hosting an all-day in-school health fair that enables it to get health information to some 2,000 students. The HST contacted a number of agencies—such as MD Anderson Cancer Center, the American Lung Association, the Dental Hygiene Association and the Crosby YMCA—and had them set up information tables in the school gym. The HST had P.E. and science students rotate through the gym during their class periods. “Each student was required to visit a certain number of stations and complete a worksheet,” said Watson. “I think the worksheet part is important so the kids don't just mingle” and waste time, she added. A local health food store donated healthy snacks.