At three Community Schools across the city, students are helping their peers get moving in the classroom and learn about living healthfully! Five students are paving the way for new health initiatives in their schools (Kensington Health Sciences Academy, Murrell Dobbins CTE High School and South Philadelphia High School) as Community Schools Healthy Communities Interns.
The new internship opportunity grows out of the Community Schools initiative’s Healthy Schools component, and like that work is a partnership between the Mayor’s Office of Education’s Community Schools initiative, the School District of Philadelphia and Get Healthy Philly. Interns work on projects in their schools and attend regular meetings at the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.
On top of that, there’s another great benefit — interns earn $15/hour for their work.
The Healthy Communities Interns have several collaborators, according to Elissa Martel from Get Healthy Philly. Interns work with staff at Get Healthy Philly, school principals, Community School Coordinators, school staff and colleagues at MOE, and “serve as champions for healthy environmental and lifestyle changes at their schools and in their neighborhoods,” Elissa said.
“I said yes [to becoming an intern] because I could help people who don’t understand English very well. That way when we have initiatives that serve students, everyone can understand,” said KHSA intern Alfremiri Florentino. “It stood out to me that I could bring new things to the school that would help our school become more healthy. I could get the chance to initiate physical activity, which is really important to me. It motivates people and brings them to life and our school. I want that for our school. I also wanted to meet other people doing good things and have mentors.”
The interns’ main responsibility is to help implement movement breaks at their schools, which will get students moving during the school day.
“One of our health goals is to increase physical activity,” said Antonio Romero, the Community Schools Coordinator at KHSA. “With the exception of Physical Education for a small fraction of our students, there is no time built into the school day for them to be physically active. Our interns make it possible to infuse our classrooms with movement activities that are physically energizing, mentally stimulating and fun!”
Alfremiri also said that students have really enjoyed taking part in the movement breaks. “It melts the stress away from students. It gives everyone an opportunity to relax take their mind off of things. Also, this physical movement is what the body needs.”
The movement breaks also can be educational, said Alfremiri. “I also use it to help my classmates learn English. I made up exercises that incorporate English words. When I lead the movement breaks you can see how the class could start off separated, but then come together as a whole.”
At all three schools, Elissa says, the interns have also been working on other projects, such as “organizing a farm stand, supporting evening and weekend yoga and fitness programming at their school, and assessing the quality and availability of healthy food at their school.”
In addition to these projects, interns also attend training sessions at the Department of Public Health, which have helped them to explore different areas of public health. According to Elissa, the interns have been learning about many issues in public health – chronic disease, nutrition and food justice, tobacco prevention and control – and have been gaining the skills they need to address them. Interns also meet with other youth leaders and advocates around the city, and nonprofits and community organizations focused on community health.
Overall, Elissa said, “Our goal is for our interns to not only make a positive change in their schools now, but for them to continue to see themselves as leaders and changemakers with the tools and confidence to advocate for health in their own lives, families, and communities in the future.”
For Alfremiri, this has certainly been working. While Alfremiri helps other students get healthier, she said that the internship has also had a personal impact.
“Before this, I would NEVER eat a salad,” she said. “But, now I’m eating healthier and it’s carried over to my sister.”
