By Sherry Harbert | Administrative and Communictions Director
MIKE Program Partners with La Salle North Catholic High School to Empower Youth to be Ambassadors of Health
MIKE Program has been empowering the youth at De La Salle to be ambassadors of health for two years. MIKE Program brings youth together with caring mentors who support teens in academic and career success.
De La Salle North Catholic High School is a private Catholic school in north Portland serving largely modest or low-income minority students. Students actively participate in the Corporate Internship Program to help defray as much as 70 percent of their tuition costs. The curriculum is designed to provide college-preparatory classes to promising, at-risk students (Portland Business Journal, 2001.) Founded in 2001, De La Salle graduated its first high school class in 2005.
MIKE Program youth participate in classroom projects, field trips to health care facilities, a supermarket scavenger hunt and other MIKE Program events. MIKE Program featured several De La Salle youth at the annual Community Gathering, “It’s the Fashion to Love Your Kidneys” event in March. The youth entertained an audience of more than 250 people with a fun and healthy rap.
The De La Salle Healthy Kidney Rap:
Drink a lot of water,
Eat a lot of fruit,
Get a lot of exercise,
Is what you need to do.
Take care of your body,
You won’t be disappointed.
And if you know the kid,
Dance. Come on and join us.
Do you got a kidney?
No, you got two.
If you want to know more,
We’ll tell you what they do.
They filter out the toxins,
The good and the bad.
They clear out your blood stream,
And you’ll be really glad.
But, when you put too much in,
And start to abuse them,
You lose them.
MIKE Program Youth Hunt for Healthy Choices
MIKE Program readied youth for the face-to-face reality of the loss of kidney function recently. De La Salle North Catholic High School youth explored one of three NE Portland dialysis centers, as staff and patients shared their experiences and knowledge of dialysis treatment. The youth also visited a local supermarket for a scavenger hunt to demonstrate how they can make healthy choices each day to help prevent obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes, which can lead to kidney failure. The field trips are part of MIKE Program’s curriculum for high school students.
Volunteers Documenting Youth Projects
MIKE Program volunteers are documenting youth projects with photos and video to better tell the story of our work with youth. We will post them on our website (www.mikeprogram.org), and be sure to check out YouTube, Facebook and Flickr.
Links:
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