During the teenage years, living a healthy lifestyle is often the last thing on anyone's mind. That's becoming even more true these days.
Technological advances such as new video game systems, the rise of social networking Web sites and reality television shows targeted at younger audiences have made indoor entertainment an alternative to running around outside. Couple that with the ever-present vending machines filled with everything from soda to snack cakes, and the always convenient fast food restaurants, getting and staying healthy can tend to drop on a youngster's priority list.
Pittsburg High School attempted to change that for its students on Thursday, or at least start the process of changing the alarming trends of weight gain among school students across the country. As part of a $4,000 grant from the Kansas Action For Healthy Kids organization, PHS was chosen to conduct an all-day health and wellness forum aimed at talking to students about what they think it means to be healthy.
"Anytime you talk about physical activity and healthy eating with high school kids, I think you have to take the message to them," Gayle Price, co-chair of the KAFHK team, said. "You have to find out what they have to say. We want to know what kids say about what it means to be healthy."
Split into two sessions — freshmen and sophomores in the morning and upper classmen in the afternoon — a major feature of the forum was the organization of small focus groups of students discussing health and nutrition with volunteers from Pittsburg State University and some from Kansas State University. Many of the volunteers from PSU are part of the university's Prevention and Wellness program.
Gathered around the group's moderator, the students discussed topics such as what types of physical activity they like to partake in, as well as what types of food they would like to see the high school offer.
Lara Ismert, senior at PHS, said she and many of her peers think the school should offer a wider range of healthy choices.
"We just really don't have much variety," she said. "All we have is fruits and vegetables and water as far as healthy foods go. But if we had something like a sandwich bar or maybe a nice salad bar, I think you would see more students lean toward eating better."
Donna Zerr, PHS principal, said the school does its best to offer a sufficient amount of healthy items, but also understands that some students also crave "junk food" like pop and chips.
"We try to give them both options," Zerr said. "But it's also important to educate them that it's OK to have junk food, but only in moderation. I think we need to teach them good habits. Pop isn't terrible if you don't drink it all the time. I think it's important we educate them on making good choices."
But Jane Byrnes, who works with KAFHK, said while many schools across the country rely on money raised through soda and snack vending machines, she thinks schools that provide them are doing the students a disservice.
"I personally don't see the necessity for a parade of calories all day long," she said. "But it's reciprocal to whether the school districts need that income. Actually, schools ought to be supported by tax dollars, not the students."
Selena King, senior program coordinator for Action For Healthy Kids in Chicago, said high school students care about their health and well-being, but often aren't reminded just how important eating right and staying active are. But approached in the right way, King said students will listen.
"Kids want to know the statistics," she said. "They want to hear that if you don't lead a healthy life, you might not live as long as you could. They want to hear that kind of talk. So they do take this seriously, but it's just a matter of how you talk to them about it."
Whatever the reasons for a lack of healthy habits on the part of teens and younger children, the trends are cause for concern. Richard Rosenkranz, assistant professor of human nutrition at KSU, said more than half of America's youth "is not meeting the physical activity guidelines, meaning they're not doing at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day." Rosenkranz, who gave the keynote address at Thursday's forum, said the need for encouraging youngsters to be healthy is becoming greater.
"We have these huge secular trends to indoor entertainment and transportation trends," he said. "Things like going out to play or walking to school has pretty much gone away."
Rosenkranz said it's important that students learn about health and wellness both in school and at home.
"The schools need to be doing their job," he said. "They have a concern for the well-being of children as part of the educational mission. They should not only be teaching messages about good nutrition and physical activity, but they should also provide a structure to support those things.
"At the same time, I think parents are a big key in either supporting or undoing anything a kid does. Academically, we know for sure that parents are a huge influence on that. The same goes for physical activity and nutrition. Kids could be in the best schools in regards to learning about nutrition and those types of things, but parents could then turn around and either undo or support that education."
But even if adults surrounding the kids preach healthy lifestyles and good nutrition, will that message hit its mark? Miles Crowley, a PHS senior, isn't so sure.
"I don't think anyone really cares about what they eat now," he said. "But it does affect you."
Crowley said eliminating unhealthy foods from schools may ultimately be a good idea.
"If they didn't have the option of eating junk food here, they'd have to eat healthy at school," he said. "Maybe that would carry over to outside school, as well."
As for getting more exercise, many of the students expressed, during their focus group sessions, their desire for more non-competitive activities in school. Crowley said many students have discussed a need for after-school activities such as yoga and dance classes. Price said she also has heard many students' desires for more activities.
"The kids were saying that they want more physical activity that's not as competitive as sports like football and basketball and softball," she said. "They want to be doing it because it's fun and it gets people together."
The school's $4,000 grant will be divided among four school groups — the drama club, science club, dance club and the female weight lifting club. King said PHS was awarded the grant because of Zerr's commitment to teaching the students the importance of health and wellness.
"Some people might not see that as a priority as much as I do," Zerr said.
The grant checks will be awarded during a ceremony on Dec. 16 at the high school.
PITTSBURG —
