Wellness day

      

     The other day, the school where I am doing my practice teaching organized a wellness day. This is an annual school event whereby students engage in wellness related activities such as mountain biking, learn to run, vegetarian cooking, yoga, etc.  many of these workshops expose students to physical activity and opportunities to explore the term "wellness" while being at school. What can be better than this? This is fantastic! Students have the chance to learn, ask questions and safely participate in these workshops for free. During this wellness day, the school also provides healthy snacks such as bananas, apples, nut free granola bars, water, etc for all the students and wellness presenters to enjoy. The atmosphere is truly enlightening. Local markets supple fresh fruit to fuel this day and this gives students the opportunity to eat healthy on a day where they may typically not have breakfast or lunch or a snack. Making these snacks available adds to the constructive wellness atmosphere within the school.    
      I was a presenter just a few days ago, offering a workshop titled, "Running 101". This workshop was awesome. Using the Doctors' of Nova Scotia coaching handbook, I put students through a proper warm up, cool down and a 2km run. I taught my participants to run safely, plan for their runs effectively and prepare for their runs diligently. It was a great time and I feel that a significant amount of health literacy was learned from my two workshops.  
     The buzz around the school was astounding. Despite the rain, students enjoyed running outside and mountain biking. They were also comforted knowing healthy snacks were provided as it peeked their energy levels. Ultimately, the entire day was a success and the passionate presenters enjoyed spending time with the kids. It was a win win for presenters and students as well as giving teachers' a well deserved break for teaching in class. I recommend that YOU ask your boss, teacher, co-worker or manager to replicate this event within your school or workplace. Health literacy always pays for itself at the end of the day, so tell your coworkers that it is a good idea to invest in.
 Ryan Fahey
 B.A Human Kinetics
 CPTN Canada
 Canfitpro
 NCCP