To inform the youth community, we have organized service activities with the Pre-K children at Centro Mater Child Care services. This nonprofit organization strives to aid economically disadvantaged families by providing quality childcare and education services, and we are honored to be hosting events through them. We created an interactive presentation for the Pre-K children in the day care. We teach them the basics of the anatomy of their bodies and the importance of eating healthy. Through several sessions, they learn about different foods and which ones are healthier for them. After the presentation, we do a fun and educational activity with the children. We help them plant their own herbs from seeds, and we teach them how to take care of their plant. The children are always ecstatic to take home their herbs, along with a nutritious recipe we provide for them. We hope to leave the children with a new sense of understanding of a healthy lifestyle.
 

Healthy living is much more than just eating right and exercising. It also includes something that we almost always take for granted---sleep. We decided to introduce the importance of sleep to the kids.

First we give them a presentation about sleep, its benefits, and tips on falling asleep. We then do an activity with the children. We hand out door hangers and have the children color them so that they could hang them on their bedroom doors. These will serve not only as decorations, but its words "Shhhhh! Sleep Zone" will be a reminder to the rest of the family to be quiet around their sleeping children to promote their healthy life.

In the end, we summarize the lesson and have them lay down on their backs. As they ponder what they have learned, we play calming music and gently massage their heads to help them relax. It is amazing to see how many of them fall asleep during this time!

We decided another important topic to address is the importance of exercise. In this presentation, we discuss not only what exercise is (playing basketball, hopscotch, dancing…) but also why it is so important to their health. We encourage them to exercise at least one hour a day and give them tips on how to stay active in various conditions: whether it’s rainy or sunny, alone or in a group. To conclude the presentation, we teach them what muscles are and why it is so important to keep them strong.

To engage the children, we set up an exercise routine for them after the presentation. It begins with a little bit of stretching to warm up. Next, we speed up the pace with a Zumba routine to the song “Happy.” They all smile and laugh as they spin around to their favorite song. To settle them down after all the excitement, we share a yoga experience with the children, controlling our breaths and experimenting new yoga positions. The kids learn so much and have a ton of fun, and we hope they apply what they learn to their lives.   
 

December is one of the busiest times of the year: there's Christmas shopping in over-packed malls, cooking holiday meals for cousins you didn’t know existed, and of course, high school midterms. To help our fellow peers as well as the faculty at our high school de-stress during this busy period, we offered a free yoga class to the whole school.  

Thanks to the donated class from Kelly from Corpo Yoga, we were able to unite as a community to find our focus and maintain a healthy balance in our lives. From stretching and breathing exercises to crow pose and head stands, we took our minds off our midterms. We were all able to escape the hustle bustle of the season and just let out our stress in a healthy manner. Thank you Kelly and thank you to all that joined us! Stay calm:)

In order to increase our impact, we also now present at San Juan Bosco, a learning center for low-income students. We have given them lectures on the benefits of healthy living and the importance of sleep. Due to the older age group, we have enhanced our presentations by adding more specific details and concrete effects of food on health. We explain the long-term consequences of unhealthy lifestyles and give them tips on how to make healthier lifestyle choices. For example, we once discussed how fatty foods can build up plaque in arteries, increasing blood pressure as well as one’s chances of suffering a heart attack. Moreover, we talk about healthy food alternatives and give them suggestions to limit their consumption of juices and to drink more water. We are honored to be presenting in San Juan Bosco and hope to continue to promote healthy habits in their youth!