Students, community participate in Healthy Habits Night
participate in Healthy Habits Night
EL CENTRO — Students enrolled in the Southwest High School Academy for Careers in Health Science and numerous community agencies collaborated Thursday to present the sixth annual Healthy Habits Family Night, a community awareness event which touched on all aspects of healthcare.
The event, held inside the Southwest High gymnasium, featured interactive and information booths from both students and local agencies.
Community agencies that participated were Pioneers Memorial Healthcare District, Clinicas de Salud del Pueblo, Southwest Dental Group, Imperial Valley Food Bank-Nutrition Education Department and San Diego Blood Bank.
“This event provides an opportunity for our students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills that they’re learning in our classrooms right alongside our community partners,” Southwest High HOSA-Future Health Professionals advisor Jackie Valadez explained.
Student projects included subject areas such as sports medicine, dental assistance, anatomy and physiology, as well as medical chemistry, medical biology, medical math and emergency response.
Southwest High student Raj Toor, 16, made his project on healthy eating habits and provided a paper food plate that participants got to fill with one thing from each of the five main food groups.
“This help kids to see what kind of foods they need more, and which foods they need less,” Toor said.
The 16-year-old explained that he has enjoyed participating in the event for the past three years as it shows people around the community the importance of eating healthier and making better choices early on.
“This event is important because we know the Imperial Valley is one of the highest populations that had diabetes, and it’s very important that we educate our children and our adults, so they can also educate their kids on the importance of eating healthy and making wise choices when it comes to your diet,” Toor said.
Eleven students from Kennedy Middle School’s Junior Upcoming Medical Professionals program, led by advisor Yvonne Olague, participated in a career health display event.
Kennedy students Michelle Gamez, 14, and Natally Aranza, 14, decided to do their display project on dentistry, as they’re interested in future careers as dentists.
“I picked being a dentist because I want to help people with their smile,” Aranza said. “I don’t want people to hide their teeth and be ashamed. I want them to smile and not be ashamed of the way their mouth is.”
It was the second year the two 14-year-olds have participated in the event.
“I like this event because you get to learn about a lot of different things, and you get to talk to people you don’t know,” Gamez said. “And if you’re going to Southwest, you get to talk to students here about your classes and stuff.”
The two expressed that being in their school’s JUMP program has been helpful experience.
“It helps me with my leadership skills,” Aranza said. “I’m a really shy person but doing this helps me be more outgoing, and so during my job, I’m not going to be awkward and in my own box.”
Each career health display was judged by a group of Southwest SACHS students. Gamez and Aranza’s project finished in third place, while their classmates Ashley Ruiz and Alejandra Cortez finished in second, and Nirvana Encinas and Xatziry Matus, who did their project on oncology, finished in first place.
Among the Southwest students who were judging the projects was HOSA President Calvin Patel, 17.
“I was looking for presentation on their project board, if it was visually appealing, how were their speaking, how much information they provided. Did they truly have a passion for it, or was it just to do it and not have any emphasis on it?” said Patel.
The 17-year-old believes the annual Healthy Habits night is a great way for students to collaborate with the community and for those in attendance to see health and health care from multiple points of view.
“I feel like you’re going to get a true understanding here about health as a whole aspect because not only are you getting the healthy habits, you’re also getting information on blood drives and the chemistry classes talking about chemical reactions going on in your body,” Patel said.