#kidsdeservehealthed #healthedheroes #mywhy #teachingiscontagious #HealthEd #HPEatHome
I don’t want to sound cliche and say that I teach because I love kids, but from a very early age, I really knew that I did! It started with nursing school and an internship in pediatric oncology. I just couldn’t do it because I came home crying every day after watching a child undergo chemotherapy or die. So I decided that instead of being around sick children, I wanted to be around healthy ones. And I was going to be the one who helped keep them healthy. I changed my major, landed my first position as a middle school health educator right out of college, and I never looked back. That was 30 years ago.
Kids are so impressionable in middle school, and they need people like us to help them advocate for themselves and make decisions based on their own values and beliefs. I teach them how to do that, and that is beyond rewarding and satisfying. I can be myself with my students. We understand each other. They love and respect me and that does wonders for my mental health! I love to inspire them and watch them grow and change throughout the school year, and to know that I had something to do with that because of what I teach, is humbling, and I wouldn’t change a thing.
Health, in the middle 