Healthy Lifestyles Summer Program

The goal of the Healthy Lifestyles program is to improve outcomes over the summer for youth ages 4-18, in the areas of:

1- Nutrition  and Food Choice

2- Physical Fitness

3- Social and Emotional Mental  Health

4 -Personal Well-being & Goal Setting. 

Youth are encouraged  to invite friends to participate each week. After Covid we had to pivot  from in-person activities to online sessions. Ultimately, we discovered  this platform gave us more flexibility and also the ability to host  more students. Students also found they could  see and connect with friends during sessions that they were less likely  to see over the summer.

This  6-week program is hosted 5 days a week, with sessions usually starting  in the month of June. The two end of the session activities include  a live in person cooking demonstration and a dance recital, for all  students . Preparation for the dance recital includes weekly dance  sessions w/ instructions from a professional dancer and students also  participate in exercise classes. These sessions are  also conducted online. Nutrition topics each week include discussions about hydration, sugar Intake, electrolytes, carbs  & proteins, fiber Intake, and the importance of regularly eating  fruits and vegetables. The Wellness sessions  include topics on self, esteem, etiquette, dealing with past hurts,  body image personal hygiene, clothing choices and hair maintenance.  Additional topics also include effective communication, coping skills,  social cues, forgiveness, and goal setting. Youth  also participate in a reading club and are encouraged to record in  their journals, on a regular basis. Finally, students are invited to  sign-up on the USDAmyplate.com website to learn how to make healthier  meals. Additionally, they are challenged to prepare  one of the recipes each Friday and post pictures to win a prize.