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Students Speak Their Minds at Healthy Kids, Healthy Schools Summit

Rodriguez Elementary School fifth-grader Clare Espinosa (far left), Hamilton Middle School sixth-grader Ely Eastman (center, green shirt), Pin Oak Middle School sixth-graders Jake Mardon (striped hoodie, right) and Grant Anhorn (with microphone), and other HISD students present their case to fellow summit participants about the need for more healthful offerings in the school snack bars.

Over the third weekend in February 2009, HISD partnered with almost two dozen other organizations to host its first ever Healthy Kids, Healthy Schools Summit  (HKHS).

Subtitled “Leveraging the Power of Our Community,” this invitation-only event was designed to gather ideas and feedback from the community about how best to improve nutrition and physical-activity opportunities for every child in HISD.

Students were asked to share their thoughts and experiences with summit attendees, both through the “Your Voices” section of the HKHS Web site  and in person as presenters—and the one message that came through loud and clear was that Houston-area children want some control over the foods that are offered on campus, as well as every other district policy that affects their health and well-being.

Sharpstown High School senior Kayla Lee explains to HISD administrators and other summit attendees why she and other students should have a say in the district’s decisions that affect student health and nutrition.

“Up until now, adults have been making all the decisions that impact the children at school,” said Manager of Secondary Health and Physical Education Rose Haggerty. “But students want a voice. They want to be part of the brainstorming process and have some influence on the decisions that are made.”

One suggestion put forth by a group of students from Bellaire, Andrew Carnegie, Ebbert Furr, and Sharpstown High Schools was so galvanizing that Haggerty promised immediately to make it a reality. “These children brought their ‘A-game’ to this event,” added Haggerty. “I was in awe of how much thought they had put into their presentations. Clearly, their health is very important to them, so how could we not respond in kind?”

The suggestion was to create a student version of the School Health Advisory Council, which ensures that local community values and health issues are reflected in the district’s health-education instruction. The student group, dubbed “Students in Schools Health Advisory Council,” will be made up of six subcommittees that will deal with the topics of: 1) food and nutrition, 2) mental and emotional health, 3) media and advertising 4) physical health 5) general well-being, and 6) curriculum development.

“We felt like if the students are the ones that have to deal with the changes in the system, then we should be able to have a say in how the policies are changed,” said Sharpstown High School senior Kayla Lee, who was selected by her dean to participate in the summit. “I think we set out a good plan for how it would happen, and people respected our persistence and willingness to commit.”

Another change that Kayla would like to see is a healthful-snack bar on her campus that is open to all students during schools hours. “We go from class to class, and you know, we get hungry,” she explained. “But there’s not much to choose from (that isn’t highly processed) in the vending machines.”

Jake Mardon, a sixth-grader at Pin Oak Middle School, agreed. “Junk food, like, needs to be regulated in elementary and middle schools,” he explained, because even though what are known officially as ”foods of minimum nutritional value” were removed from vending machines starting in 2003, “the snack bars sell a lot of really greasy foods and stuff.”

To help students make better choices, Jake suggested setting limits on the number of less-healthful snacks students could purchase in any given time period. This would preserve students’ right to choose their own food, but steer those with less self-control away from excessive consumption of less-healthful options.

“I want there to be, like, most of the really greasy, sugary stuff taken out, and more fruit there,” he said, “because the fruit they have now is old and not good.”

Jake described his experience at the summit as “pretty fun, and pretty productive,” and he was pleased to be able to give his peers a voice in what was served at district schools. After all, he noted, “kids are the ones that are gonna be eating the food.”