Wellpowered welcome,
SCHOOLS
I would like to personally welcome and thank you for being a part of the Wellpowered Schools program. Through this program your school will benefit from no-cost tools and resources aimed at improving the health and well-being of our community's youngest members. As your Youth Wellness Coordinator, I will work as a conduit, connecting you to resources, wellness activities and initiatives throughout our community, to provide you with engaging, ageappropriate materials to enhance and inspire new wellness strategies and programs in your school. Each year the Wellpowered Schools program provides new resources, materials and our signature programs to help schoosl reach their wellness goals. Your engagement and feedback is welcomed and is an essential tool we use to improve these programs each year. Thank you again for your commitment to this program and for your aspiration to improve the lives of your students- I am thankful to be a part of this healthy change in your school! Warmly, Marissa
MARISSA MANNION-KING YOUTH WELLNESS COORDINATOR & Dream Fulfillment Officer Center for Population Health CHESHIRE MEDICAL CENTER 580 Court Street Keene, NH 03431 P: 603-354-5454 ext. 2930 Pronouns: she her hers
The Center for Population Health (CPH), a department of Cheshire Medical Center was established to advance the health and well-being in our region. One way we do this is through programs like Wellpowered Schools, of which I am thrilled you are part of. Schools enrolled in the Wellpowered program are able to access valuable offerings and resources at no cost, as a community benefit provided by Cheshire Medical. Your commitment to student well-being serves a dual purpose in our community; not only are you improving the quality of life for your students but you are also supporting the priorities of the Healthy Monadnock Alliance (HMA). HMA is a regional partnership of community leaders who have joined together around a common purpose of better health and well-being for all. Cheshire Medical, the principal supporter of the HMA welcomes you as a Healthy Monadnock Alliance member organization, and on behalf of Cheshire Medical Center, I would like to thank you for your efforts in helping us to create a healthier community, where health equity is a priority in our work.
SHAWN LAFRANCE, VICE PRESIDENT
Center for Population Health CHESHIRE MEDICAL CENTER
MSUP, MPH
Table of Contents Why Wellpowered Matters
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Building What Matters
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Two Signature Programs Run and Read a Marathon
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Live 9-5-2-1-0
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Seven 2022 Wellness Offerings
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Character Calendar
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AFHY Mini Grant Funding
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NH Harvest of The Month
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Wellpowered Resources
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Brag Tags
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Wellness Week
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The Playground Post Newsletter
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Annual Wellpowered Questionnaire
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Wellpowered Designation Badges
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#wellpowered
Why Wellpowered Matters Because it takes a village. We are a community, meaning your children are our children, and creating schools that provide supportive environments and protective factors to help students navigate the world is what matters. As your School Wellness advisor, it is my job to help schools bolster these supportive environments through a wellness program that is constantly adapting to emerging health and well-being trends, as well as the current cultural climate. This mix of influences creates a wellness program that is science-backed, progressive and equitable- making it so any school, regardless of size has the ability to benefit. The past two years has hit schools hard. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted learning and shined a light on the important role schools play in our community, and on our children's overall well-being. Restoring these supportive environments is key for children to reach their highest potential- and thankfully schools don't have to go it alone. The Wellpowered Schools program is here to help, by offering evidence-based programing, access to local resources and grant opportunities. Through the Wellpowered Schools' wellness offerings, and two signature programs, schools can increase student literacy, physical activity, nutrition and mindfulness- which have all been shown to reduce stress, anxiety and improve well-being. Thank you for being part of the Wellpowered Schools Program. I look forward to working with you over the course of the next year.
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Building what Matters We take pride in creating progressive wellness programs that continually push the envelope to do more- to be better. We are always looking at emerging trends and research to shape future offerings. However, this process should not be completed in a vacuum- we invite you to join us! Through your input and feedback we can evolve this program even further. Emerging research on the impact that COVID-19 has had on youth shows a concerning spike in poor mental health among adolescents. This research has challenged us to find new and engaging ways to incorporate mental health resources and physical activity into students daily routine- something we know has positive effects on all aspects of well-being. “Exercise is essential for mental and physical health- and can help kids cope with the new normal brought on by COVID-19.” 1 "On average, young people who exercise more have lower levels of depression, stress and psychological distress, and higher levels of positive self-image, life satisfaction and psychological well-being." 2 "Physical activity during the Coronavirus pandemic can counteract the negative effects of Coronavirus fear on adolescent mental health and well-being. Therefore, physical activity should be promoted during lockdown to support good mental health and well-being." 3
1: American Psychological Association 2: (Rodriguez-Ayllon, M., et. al., Sports Medicine, Vol. 49, No. 9, 2019) 3: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.580511/full
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Signature Programs Another perk of the Wellpowered program are the two, year-long signature programs we offer to schools each year. Run and Read a Marathon which aims to increase literacy and physical activity, and Live 9-5-2-1-0 which provides engaging content for teachers and students, designed to holistically improve health and well-being. These programs are only available through the Wellpowered program, and were custom designed in house, meaning they were tailor built to specifically meet the needs of schools in the Monadnock region. Run and Read a Marathon is a fun and engaging way to get your students excited about academic and physical agility by incorporating reading with the annual Kids DeMar marathon! As students complete each book they are able to mark off a "mile" on their DeMar marathon themed reading tracker, getting them closer to the finish line with each book they complete. Run and Read a Marathon kicks off in January 2022 and supplies schools with free physical activity themed books, reading trackers, stickers for student's to track their progress and information on how to register for the Kids DeMar marathon.
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In addition to completing 26 books, the Run and Read program helps students get excited to participate in the summer long training program for the Kids DeMar marathon! Which will have students run 26 miles over the course of the summer breakcompleting the final 1.2 miles at the Kid’s DeMar on race day!
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Live 9-5-2-1-0 is a fun, evidence-based program designed to bring awareness to daily recommendations for nutrition and physical activity. Its message is simple, clear and represents some of the most important steps families can take to prevent childhood obesity and improve overall health. Kids should strive for: nine hours of sleep each night, five servings of fruits and vegetables per day, two hours or less of screen time per day (this includes TV, computer, and video games), one hour of physical activity per day and zero sugar-sweetened drinks. With a health tracker and fun activities, this program is designed to create sustainable habits that will increase health and well-being among all youth.
9 Hours of sleep 5 Servings of fruits and veggies 2 Hours or less of screen time 1 hour of physical activity 0 Sugar-sweetened drinks
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Wellness Offerings Each year, schools enrolled in the Wellpowered program will benefit from a variety of wellness resources provided by local content experts- all at no cost to the school. This rotating list is specifically designed to meet the unique needs of schools enrolled in the Wellpowered program. We encourage you to help us shape what these offerings ultimately become through your feedback during your annual assessment.
This calendar offers an opportunity to create positive relationships inside the classroom and at home with different prompts, mantras and questions for each day of the school year. Use this in your classrooms every day and see how your students create beneficial relationships and learn new traits about themselves and their classmates.
Advocates for Healthy Youth (AFHY), is a coalition supported by Cheshire Medical Center that offers funding opportunities to the Wellpowered Schools program. Your school is eligible to apply for an AFHY mini grant worth up to $1,000 every year to be used on wellness supports for your students.
NH Harvest of the Month (HOM) is a farm-to-school campaign that provides ready to use materials for the classroom, cafeteria and community, which is designed to promote the use of local seasonal foods. Want to integrate the themes into the classroom? We can help!
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Don't see the resource you're looking for? No problem! One of the best things about the Wellpowered Schools program is the wide variety of resources available through our Wellpowered network. Reach out to your Wellness Advisor and they will be happy to connect you with a local resource to fit your needs.
Brag
TAGS
Brag Tags are a fun and easy way to boost excitement and engagement with your students! Use these tags to recognize students for going above and beyond, or for completing one of the Wellpowered signature programs- the uses are endless, as are the number of tags each student can collect!
Every April, teachers and students will enjoy a fun-filled week of activities, discussions and resources specifically designed around each Wellpowered badge. Over the course of the five days students will be introduced to fun themes like Mindful Monday and Fit Friday! Each day students will be challenged to complete the activities in a holistic way- highlighting awareness of mind, body and spirit. Wellness Week is the perfect way to jump into spring each year and get your students moving and ready for spring break!
Playground POST
All your school wellness information and resources in one convenient place! The Playground Post is a new quarterly newsletter that will highlight local wellness offerings, activities, recipes and resources for teachers! The Playground Post will also showcase schools in the Wellpowered program, so make sure to submit
photos and highlights to your Wellness Advisor and let your school shine! 6
Annual Questionnaire Every fall, schools have the opportunity to assess their wellness program by completing our online Wellpowered Questionnaire. Based off of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) School's Health Index, this questionnaire provides a baseline for schools, as well as a tool to map their school wellness progress over time. In addition, this allows each school the opportunity to give valuable feedback about trainings and programs they participated in or ones they wish to be made available in the upcoming year. The Wellpowered Questionnaire is broken down into four fundamental areas of wellness, with a local resource dedicated to each answer- meaning, if your school answered "no" to a question, but would like it to be a "yes", we can help! As public health workers, we know that the most impactful way to create sustainable change is through PPSE changes or program implementation, policy/system improvements, and environmental enhancements. A high functioning school wellness program is no different! Finding the unique balance that works well in your school is key to the success of your wellness program, and we can help keep all three aspects in perfect balance. Below you will find a sample diagram of a school's PPSE breakdown based off of a sample Wellpowered Questionnaire. (Your school's specific PPSE diagram will be featured in your annual report).
PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION Programs often focus on individual behavior change, and are short termmeaning they have a specified start and end date. Programs are often used as an engagement tool that supports a PSE change. Like starting a build-your-own salad lunch program to accompany a school-wide healthy eating initiative.
PPSE BREAKDOWN OF YOUR SCHOOL'S NAME HERE WELLPOWERED WORKSITE
POLICY/ SYSTEM IMPROVEMENTS Policy and system changes involve changes made to the rules within an organization, and often work hand-in-hand to produce long term sustainable change. Examples include creating a new policy that supports gender identity preference for students, or implementing a new system for how employee orientation is run that includes education for teachers on gender pronouns.
ENVIRONMENTAL ENHANCEMENTS Environmental change is a change made to the physical environment. Environmental changes can be as simple as installing bike racks outside your
school to encourage kids to bike to school.
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PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION
ENVIRONMENTAL ENHANCEMENTS POLICY/ SYSTEM IMPROVEMENTS
WELLPOWERED DESIGNATION BADGES Building a successful wellness program is no small task, and we believe schools who are putting in the work should be acknowledged- often and publicly for their efforts! And this is why we developed our Wellpowered Designation Badges. Built into our annual questionnaire, these four incentive based badges correlate to each wellness category; Tobacco Free, Physically Active, Well Nourished and Building Resiliency, and are earned based off of the number of resources a school offers to their students. If a school is looking to earn a badge, their wellness advisor can easily offer additional supports to bolster their resources in that category to help them achieve their goal and earn the badge. For example, if a school would like to earn the Well Nourished badge, it doesn't mean ALL of their students need to eat an organic plant based lunch (although that would be wonderful), it means that if their students are looking for a more nutritious option at lunch- they have one! We can help by offering additional resources or mini grant funding. Each badge is available in both a digital format and a window cling, so schools can proudly display their achievements in a way that works best for them.
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WELLPOWERED
37 Schools Enrolled
2 0 2 0 - 2 0 2 1
H i g h l i g h t s
13, 437 Students Served
N a t i o n a l
"Only 5% of Adolescents in the United States are meeting the national recommendations for sleep, exercise and screen time." 1
19 Communities Reached
S t a t i s t i c s
"Less than one-quarter of children 6 to 17 years of age participate in 60 minutes of physical activity every day." 2
1: Prevalence and Likelihood of Meeting Sleep, Physical Activity, and Screen-Time Guidelines Among US Youth | Adolescent Medicine | JAMA Pediatrics | JAMA Network 2: https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/physicalactivity/facts.htm