Scotia-Glenville students focused on heart health and fundraising
Some people might think kids don’t live healthy or active lifestyles anymore, but some have shown living a heart-healthy life isn’t so hard after all.
Scotia-Glenville High School students have recently had cardiovascular awareness focused on in health classes and on Friday, Nov. 19, the Student Senate sponsored a Hat Day to benefit the American Heart Association. Students in health and physical education classes walked the outdoor one-quarter mile high school track to practice what they’ve been learning.
The epidemic of obesity and diabetes is really still one of our major concerns and we want to really have that be a theme throughout the building, said Pat Tamar, a health teacher at the school. `Fitness for life, lifetime activities, not just a one time or one shot deal, but something that they love to do to keep them active.`
Throughout the halls there were heart awareness posters hung up, which were made by students in health classes. Tamar said there had been a month of nutrition and fitness learning activities in health classes, such as creating a heart healthy menu, creating a health focused fast food restaurant, working on an online Wiki about what they have learned and creating fact sheets about nutrition.
`We try to balance getting your movies and TV in, but also staying active,` said Tamar. `We want to make sure we address lifetime fitness for all people.`
While students walk on the track the goal is to get their pulse rate to 120 beats per-minute or higher. The focus is for each student to complete a mile at their pace and get some exercise.
`We certainly have a population that are not in good shape at all that will willing admit that the only activity they get is the mandatory PE and they don’t even put too much effort into it,` said Janet Rathjens, a health teacher at the school. `But then we have a number who are very active and probably sell themselves short, because maybe they are not the ‘school athlete’ so they don’t see themselves as athletic. You don’t have to do school sports to be athletic.`
Rathjens also calculated the VO2 max for her students doing the walk in her classes, which measures the maximum amount of oxygen their body can use per-minute of physical activity. To calculate their VO2 max, a students needs to know how long it took them to complete the mile, their pulse rate and then put in their body weight.
`It is a really good judge of their current cardiovascular health,` said Rathjens. `Certain sports don’t lend themselves to great cardiovascular fitness, so this gives them a more realistic view of where they are at form the cardiovascular perspective.`
She said VO2 max is nothing new, but some people might have not heard about it. Also, previously she was a health teacher, so she has done a lot of reading on cardiovascular fitness.
`A lot of people judge fitness simply by a look,’ said Rathjens. `If you are the right weight or the right look, then, oh you must be physically fit and that’s simply not true. Certainly weight is part of the picture, but you can have people that are 10 pounds or 15 pounds overweight that are actually in better cardiovascular fitness than someone who is an ideal weight.`
While some people might be active in a certain sport, they still might not have good cardiovascular health.
`There is certainly a population that thinks they are in a better condition then they are, because they excel at a particular sport, but that sport doesn’t require them to maintain an elevated heart rate and an elevated breathing rate,` said Rathjens. `That’s the population that it is most important to. I would say they are willing to put in the effort, but they really don’t get that they are not there yet.`
Students in Tamar’s class walked the outdoor track as a cold wind swept through the field and they shared some of the things they’ve learned from health class.
Getting a good amount of sleep and eating a balanced diet seemed important to most of the students. Also, making sure a meal has a lot of color on the plate with a focus on vegetables was expressed.
`I don’t eat as much bacon anymore,` said Drew Bailey, a student in Tamar’s health class. `I go for whole grain everything bagels now.`
Carli Aragosa said she focuses more on portion control now when she eats. Students also said it was easier to change their eating habits than they thought it would be.
`We have come a long way in terms of them having a really good knowledge base of what is healthy in terms of nutrition and fitness,` said Tamar. `I think when you read about inactivity and sedentary lifestyles, I think that we have a really good base of active kids. At least they appreciate how important it is.“
