Moving Towards a Healthier You Program Summary

Moving Towards a Healthier You is a public health program created by Junior

Emma Martin that was implemented into the Columbia public school system in the fall of

2015 and has continued thus far. The program visits Oakland Middle School for two

four-week sessions, one in the fall and one in the spring. Each session includes 16 active

teaching sessions with the children. Emma Martin the Moving Towards a Healthier You

Chairwoman directs the program, and pre-nursing SNA members teach the lessons. This

program teaches middle school students about what a healthy lifestyle is, side effects

from an unhealthy lifestyle, and how to make small positive changes in their life to make

a big impact on their health. Little changes are made each week by the students, which

they are encouraged to keep for that week and integrate it into their daily routine.

This program has 23 dedicated pre-nursing students who volunteered over 32

hours in the Columbia public school system in the 2015-2016 academic year, reached

over 600 middle school students at Oakland Middle School, and exposed children to

different kinds of foods and exercises to implement into their lifestyles. Plans to expand

this program are being executed currently by networking to different schools to

incorporate our program. Our tentative schedule for the fall of 2016 is to expand to

another middle school along with our current location and reach over 1,200 students. The

mission of our program is to teach the next generation how to live a healthy lifestyle. By

implementing this program into middle schools locally we are progressing towards a

healthier Columbia community and creating future advocates for public health.