American Heart Month

WRITTEN BY NIC RHEW (12)

American Heart Association challenges Stratford to take on Finn’s Heart Mission

This February, Student Council paired up with the American Heart Association (AHA) to help raise awareness for heart health.

In September, Ashley Avalos, an AHA member, reached out to senior Bryce Oliphant, the Student Council Philanthropist, to see if Stratford would be interested in setting up the American Heart Challenge Program within the school.

Oliphant was thrilled with the idea, and the plan was quickly set into motion.

Oliphant presented this opportunity to Student Council members, suggesting that they complete “Finn’s Mission,” an eight-step program dedicated to educating students about handsonly CPR. Oliphant’s hope is that Student Council members take the things they have learned through this program “[and] lead the way for the rest of the school to get involved.” program is directed towards teaching high school students the same core AHA values.

However, because the program is still early in its development, the AHA is using Stratford as one of its test-run schools to see the effectiveness and general involvement of the student population.

This American Heart Challenge Program is a relatively new program for high schools.

Avalos explained that, similar to “Jump Rope for Heart,” which students most likely completed in elementary school, this new

In total, Stratford worked together to raise over $4000 for the American Heart Association, surpassing our goal of $2500. Approximately 157 Spartans signed up and completed Finn’s Mission, beating Avalos’ expectations.

Oliphant concludes, “I hope to have more opportunities to work with organizations like the AHA in the future, and I really hope StuCo sticks with this program in the future.”