Smith-Cotton High School students were the teachers Monday as they conducted a Heart Healthy Workshop for fifth graders at Sedalia Middle School.
Health Occupations Students of America was started at S-C last year as a program for students to learn more about the medical field after high school. The 45-member club at S-C hosts a variety of activities each month, with February focusing on heart health. Makenna Steger and Ally Shaw were in charge of February’s activity and they decided to incorporate community service.
“We talked about going to the schools for at least one of the months to not only get out in the community but show kids what they have to look forward to in high school if this is what they choose to do,” Steger said in between station rotations. “We chose the middle school because we thought they were old enough to kind of grasp what we would be teaching them here and they would benefit the most out of it.”
HOSA students spent the entire day Monday at SMS with various classes visiting the gym to participate in eight stations manned by the high school students. Stations included learning how to take blood pressure, learning where various body parts are located, how blood flows through the heart by using larger-than-life drawings made by HOSA students, how to take heart rate and how it changes with exercise, how to locate heart sounds with a stethoscope, and taking a pledge to be more active and healthy.
“We have them take a pledge, things they can do to be more heart healthy. I don’t think a lot of them realize that heart health influences like everything else in your body,” Steger said. “So we’re teaching them heart parts and pathway of blood, exercise with their heart rates, letting them mess around with stethoscopes.”
Steger and Shaw, along with Blanca Melgar, manned the station that taught students about the pathway of blood through the heart, playing a game of Heart Twister to learn the different parts, and showing examples of real hearts.
“It’s been good, I was surprised that a lot of the students actually grasped it a lot better than I thought they would,” Shaw said.
“I liked seeing their faces when we told them that was a real heart. Some of them were really amazed and some of them just backed away,” Steger said with a smile.
In February, HOSA had teacher appreciation on Valentine’s Day, passing out heart-healthy dark chocolate, and hosted Dr. Josh Valtos, a cardiovascular disease doctor in Sedalia, who spoke to the group about his job, cardiovascular medicine and the process of medical school.
HOSA students job shadow and host speakers from the medical field, plus host fun activities like Monday’s workshops at SMS. Shaw said she is looking into being a cardiologist, but she joined HOSA to figure out which medical field she is most interested in. Steger said she plans to be a doctor, most likely in family medicine.
While the workshops allowed the HOSA members to conduct community service and teach what they’ve learned, it also benefited the SMS students.
“I don’t think they (the younger students) realize how the heart works really, the whole process. So I think they really enjoyed today,” said fifth-grade P.E. teacher Susan Christian. “It was visual, which is what fifth-graders really learn from. I think it made them more aware about being healthy, that movement helps. With the high school students teaching, they appreciated it and paid close attention because it’s other kids teaching them, which I think is great. I’m glad we did it.”
Falynne Kirkpatrick, left, a member of Health Occupations Students of America at Smith-Cotton High School, shows fifth-grader Charles Boone how to take her blood pressure in the Sedalia Middle School gym Monday afternoon. HOSA students spent the day at SMS hosting stations about heart health for younger students.
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Falynne Kirkpatrick, left, a member of Health Occupations Students of America at Smith-Cotton High School, shows fifth-grader Charles Boone how to take her blood pressure in the Sedalia Middle School gym Monday afternoon. HOSA students spent the day at SMS hosting stations about heart health for younger students.
Photos by Nicole Cooke | Democrat
Julio Zalpa, Charles Boone, Maxim Schkuropat and Kevin Trotter do some quick jumping jacks after HOSA students helped them find their resting heart rate Monday afternoon. After they did their brief exercise, the students then found their heart rate again and compared the two.
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Julio Zalpa, Charles Boone, Maxim Schkuropat and Kevin Trotter do some quick jumping jacks after HOSA students helped them find their resting heart rate Monday afternoon. After they did their brief exercise, the students then found their heart rate again and compared the two.
Photos by Nicole Cooke | Democrat
Makenna Steger, Ally Shaw and Blanca Melgar, members of HOSA at Smith-Cotton, guide fifth-graders Natasha Rohr, Elizabeth Long and Laissa Barillas through the path of blood flow in the human heart using large canvas drawings made by HOSA members.
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Makenna Steger, Ally Shaw and Blanca Melgar, members of HOSA at Smith-Cotton, guide fifth-graders Natasha Rohr, Elizabeth Long and Laissa Barillas through the path of blood flow in the human heart using large canvas drawings made by HOSA members.
Photos by Nicole Cooke | Democrat
Smith-Cotton HOSA members Katelynn Montgomery, left, and Ashley Thomlinson take the blood pressure of fifth-graders Kevin Trotter, left, and Julio Zalpa at their healthy heart station Monday afternoon. The HOSA members then swapped roles to let the Sedalia Middle School students try their hand at checking blood pressure on them.
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Smith-Cotton HOSA members Katelynn Montgomery, left, and Ashley Thomlinson take the blood pressure of fifth-graders Kevin Trotter, left, and Julio Zalpa at their healthy heart station Monday afternoon. The HOSA members then swapped roles to let the Sedalia Middle School students try their hand at checking blood pressure on them.
Photos by Nicole Cooke | Democrat
Taylor Burlingame, left, helps fifth-grader Devon Balke put in another body part on the mannequin as Emmett Shapley looks on behind him.
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Taylor Burlingame, left, helps fifth-grader Devon Balke put in another body part on the mannequin as Emmett Shapley looks on behind him.
Photos by Nicole Cooke | Democrat
Health students host workshop at Sedalia Middle School
By Nicole Cooke
ncooke@sedaliademocrat.com
Nicole Cooke can be reached at 660-530-0138 or on Twitter @NicoleRCooke.