Durgee Junior High School hosted its first annual Health and Wellness/Career Expo Jan. 31 to encourage junior high students to adopt and maintain healthy lifestyles. The school designed the expo to encourage a dialogue in school regarding how students can create and maintain lifestyles that will provide them with optimal physical and mental health.
Ninth-graders participated in an interactive Q & A featuring local nutrition and health care professionals including Kaushal Nanavati, M.D., district physician, Melanie Schreiner, district dietician, and Samantha Hillman, district athletic trainer and physical education teacher at Baker High School. Rounding out the panel were Seth Nels, corporate chef with Fusion Sales Group, Ruth Sullivan, a registered dietician from Syracuse University, David Wolfe, a sleep expert, and Florence Selin, a consultant on child nutrition with the American Dairy Association and Dairy Council.
After the Q&A session students visited several stations to sample healthy foods including yogurt, vegetarian chili and breakfast bars.
All students rotated through a fitness activity of their choice including Zumba, yoga, karate, snowshoeing and dance. The junior high students also had an opportunity to speak with local health care professionals during the career expo portion of the morning.
Durgee Junior High School was recently awarded a $2,000 grant from the American Dairy Association and Dairy Council for its participation in the Fuel Up to Play 60 program, an in-school nutrition and physical activity program of the National Dairy Council and the National Football League. The grant supported the Wellness/Career Expo.
The Wellness/Career Expo promoted the Baldwinsville Central School District’s wellness policy, which the district adopted in 2006. The wellness policy emphasizes creating and maintaining a learning environment that models and encourages healthy eating and physical activity habits. The entire policy is on the district’s web site at bville.org, under District Info & Data.
