Mentorship Program Inspires Health

STAFF PHOTO BEN GOFF @NWABenGoff Cinthia Salas, 16, from left, Lisette Devora, 16, and Maria Bahena, 17, take part in a Zumba class Wednesday through the Girls with Goals program at Heritage High School in Rogers.
STAFF PHOTO BEN GOFF @NWABenGoff Cinthia Salas, 16, from left, Lisette Devora, 16, and Maria Bahena, 17, take part in a Zumba class Wednesday through the Girls with Goals program at Heritage High School in Rogers.

ROGERS -- One hand popped into the air when Viviana Pagan asked the Girls with Goals group if anyone had danced Zumba before.

Pagan, program mentor and a Zumba instructor, walked the group through a few moves. Arms up, legs up will get a more intense cardio workout, she said. Then she cranked up the music and the teens and their mentors followed along, tentatively.

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Zumba

Zumba is a dance fitness program created by Colombian dancer and choreographer Albert “Beto” Perez in the 1990s. About 14 mission people take weekly Zumba classes in over 140,000 locations across more than 185 countries.

Source: zumba.com

By the end of the 40-minute dance-inspired workout the girls were stomping along. Between high-fives and water bottles, the girls chatted about starting a Zumba club at Heritage High School.

Tina Howlett created the Girls with Goals program in Rogers this year. Howlett, an English as a second language curriculum specialist, designed the program to bring mentors and teen girls together around the idea of becoming healthy. Another after-school group meets at Rogers High School.

She recruited teens who were connected to the language program because students who are first-generation immigrants tend to be less involved in school, Howlett said. The idea of healthy living and mentorship applies to all teens.

The program may have been Zumba, but Howlett handed out pedometers along with this month's challenge to walk 10,000 steps a day. Next month they'll make smoothies. Every month they split into small groups and jot down fitness, healthy eating and community involvement goals.

If a goal is to "exercise more" that can set a girl up for failure, Pagan said. It has to be defined and fit with their schedule.

"If you write it down you can focus on your goals," Pagan told her group.

"There is a link between health and academics," said Audra Walters, chairwoman of an Arkansas Coalition for Obesity Prevention subgroup.

"That's something that in public health care we've known for a long time," she said.

Health isn't just physical, Walters said, but mental and emotional.

A statewide holistic approach to student health is the Coordinated School Health Initiative, Walters said. The initiative is a partnership between the Arkansas Department of Health and the Arkansas Department of Education.

Springdale has been a part of the initiative for years, said Mary Miller, coordinated school health director.

When they first started, Miller wished for a manual because health touches so many different facets. As part of the program, she oversees health-oriented plans for all the schools in the district. Administrators have partnered with the city to install walking tracks at schools, and developed school-based clinics focused on physical and mental health. There are three FoodCorps workers teaching food and nutrition. There's a change in perception that mental, physical, emotional and social health plays into student work, Miller said.

Still, most of the progress in Springdale is in the younger grades, Miller said. High school schedules offer challenges to extra programming.

The key with any kind of health education is to make the healthy choice the easy choice, said Patricia Scott, director of school health at the Arkansas Department of Health. Making fruits and vegetables available is a step in the right direction, she said.

"It's too easy to go through the drive-through," Scott said.

Changing the menu doesn't fix all health issues. Obesity can be tied to bullying, which can be tied to mental health, she said.

That's why the pairing of health and exercise and mentorship in Rogers is a good idea, Scott said.

"You can't just fix school lunch and everybody is going to be healthier," she said.

Realistic goals build success, which builds mental health and sets the stage for graduation.

Graduation from high school improves health outcomes, she said. The life expectancy gap between Americans with higher education and without a diploma has been widening since the 1960s, according to a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center on Society and Health brief.

Procrastination is easy, Walters said. Walking is a simple way to get started on a path to fitness, she said.

"You can make a healthy decision today," she said.

Walking more was a goal set by many of the girls, Howlett said.

Guadalupe Gonzalez, a junior, said she walks with her mom in a park near her home. She's seen people grow overweight and struggle with health issues. That isn't for her, she said.

"I want to exercise more just so I can be healthy," she said.

Some girls said they joined the after-school mentoring program to lose weight. Others said they were meeting new people.

"We've just always been active," said Maria Bahena, a junior.

She and her friend Cinthia Salas, also a junior, ran a Springdale 5K race in September.

It's more about being healthy and less about looks, Salas said.

"There's a lot of messages about being thin," said Pagan, the Zumba instructor.

She's seen cultural perceptions where women feel pressured to take care of their family first and neglect their own health.

She advocates for balance, and making fitness fun.

Healthy habits can be hard to start, said Sharon Fanning, mentor and science teacher at Heritage. What works with the after-school program is the low key approach. The lesson isn't for a grade, it's building life habits she said.

"You don't have to do it perfectly," Fanning said.

NW News on 11/16/2014

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