TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV)– Wednesday means something special for kindergarteners at Benjamin Franklin Elementary School.
Students work alongside two health navigators– one who focuses on physical activity, and the other nutrition– as part of “Wellness Wednesday,” a program under the coordinated health program at the Vigo County School Corporation, which is done in conjunction with Union Hospital.
Program director Annie Noble said the feedback from students has been great.
“There’s a stigma that working out and just physical exercise is not fun. The feedback we’ve got from these kids is they’re just ecstatic,” she said. “Everytime they see [Heidi Grim,] they call her Howdy, she’s our physical activity navigator, every time they just light up and they are ready to move right along with her.”
Madison Schmidt, the nutrition navigator for the program, said interacting with the kids has been her favorite part.
“It’s really rewarding, especially when they see you and they’re like, ‘Oh, Miss Madison’s here,” or my counterpart Miss Howdy, they love to see us, their face brightens, they are awesome,” she said.
The program aims to increase physical activity and health awareness in the classrooms. Right now, it’s just at one school on a pilot basis, before potentially expanding.
“We’re piloting our bigger programs here, to show success so we can spread them out throughout the district,” Noble said. “We would like to pilot, and see if we see any significance between incorporating more movement into the classrooms and improvement of test scores.”
Kids alternate between running, stretching and playing games in the gym with Grim, or learning about nutrition or medicine with Schmidt. Noble said they are working to add a third navigator who focuses on mental health.
Noble said the idea for the coordinated health program came from a meeting between leadership at VCSC and Union.
“Our superintendent [Rob Haworth] met with the CEO of Union Hospital, Steve Hulman, to kind of discuss the climate of health here in school corporation. Through that came this program, which we started in February,” she said.
In August, they added the health navigators to work at the elementary school. Schmidt said she hopes the program can expand– and help more students in the area.
“I grew up in Terre Haute, this is part of my hometown,” she said. “I know what I learned as a student, so hopefully I can build upon it and for the next generation, can build a better and brighter future for all of our kids.”
