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Tenth graders (from left to right) Amanda Espinal, Ruth Vidal, Caitlin Fernandez, Jose Disla and teacher Elizabeth Jesus (in the back) were part of the class that examined how to combat obesity among their peers.
If you weren’t sure about where and how to exercise in Northern Manhattan, the 10th graders at the Community Health Academy of the Heights have put it all down in black and white.
During an investigation into the problem of childhood obesity in Washington Heights, students at the Community Health Academy of the Heights, a relatively new high school on W.182nd Street, decided to design a comprehensive local guide of places where youth can exercise.
The thorough resource, complete with graphics and user-friendly layout, includes everything from Spanish folk dance lessons to how to contact a local private kickboxing instructor.
It’s called service learning, a new educational approach promoted by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, where a school project is designed to better the surrounding community.
The long hours the students put in on this project not only benefit Washington Heights, Assistant Principal Adam Stevens said, but it will look great on their college applications.
The class approached their assignment as public health analysts. They spent the first month learning about health problems facing the community from experts and research assignments.
They found that diabetes, teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, cancer and gang violence all plague Washington Heights. But the group decided to focus on obesity after becoming aware of the staggering numbers of overweight youth in low-income communities like Washington Heights.
“When we heard the statistics we were like wow,” Jose Disla, 16, said as he and his peers reflected on the project. Poor food choices and lack of exercise are the causes of obesity and the numerous health problems obese people suffer later in life. To learn more, the group surveyed their underclassmen. They designed a 45 question survey to learn about their peers’ knowledge of the obesity and what contributes to it, and what their exercise habits and food choices are.
“Oh my God, the homework,” Caitlin Fernandez, 16, said.
The group was surprised by their findings. Eighty-one percent of the 158 students queried said they were aware that the effects of obesity can be severe. Most were aware that a high percentage of youth in Washington Heights are obese.
“Wow, they knew about that and we just learned about that this year,” Disla said.
Seventy-seven-percent said they knew what their healthy weight should be and 86- percent said they knew how to make healthy eating choices at home.
Still, Disla and some of his classmates doubted how honest some of these overly healthy answers were.
“I’ve seen some of the kids over there,” he jokes.
The group’s study found that only 28 percent of their schoolmates exercised for 60 minutes everyday and only 69-percent exercised one day a week.
Figuring that most kids have less control over what they eat and more control over how much they exercise, they decided the best service to provide was an exercise guide, “so that there would be no more excuses,” Fernandez said.
The group plans to present their findings to their peers and the community at the school’s annual Health and Fitness Fair at 10 a.m. on Sat., June 12 at 512 W.182 St. The event is open to the community.
The final phase of the project will be a class party to celebrate. Disla and his classmates are advocating for a pizza party, but Ms. Jesus wonders how healthy that would be. “Hello, we were just being healthy throughout this whole process,” Disla says to his teacher. “We deserve to be unhealthy once for a pizza party.”
So far, Ms. Jesus isn’t convinced.
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