Connecticut School Health Guidelines Training

Yesterday I had the opportunity to work with 4 school districts in Connecticut that will be working with the CT Department of Public Health and CT Department of Education on physical activity and nutrition programs under the CDC’s State Public Health Actions to Prevent and Control Diabetes, Heart Disease, Obesity and Associated Risk Factors and Promote School Health also known as the 1305 or Quad grant.

It was a great opportunity for these districts to learn more about tools and resources that will help them assess where their school is at around programs, policies and practices related to physical activity, physical education and healthy eating. I lead them through many activities including:

• A ‘think out of the box”/ creative visioning activity- what media/people will be saying about them in 5 years from now as a result of this work;
• practicing your stairwell speech for making the case to create healthier learning environments for both students and staff;
• filling in a crosswalk tool that allows participants to align federal and state mandates/education accountability measures and initiatives to health goals; and
• participating in a jigsaw activity to become familiar with the nine guidelines within the School Health Guidelines tool.

Evaluations were super strong and I had a great time seeing my parents and being back in my home state, during the BEST week ever… GO UCONN! Meeting these school teams was fantastic and I hope I have the opportunity to work with them again over the next 4-5 years!