Promote health in 100 teens in Portland, Oregon

Vanessa Hansen knew MIKE would be a perfect fit for volunteering. “I was searching for an internship opportunity to work with the youth in my community to benefit their health,” says Hansen. “With MIKE, mentors get the chance to watch the youth transition into advocating for their own health.”

Hansen, who is majoring in community health education at Portland State University, is in her second year of volunteering as a mentor with MIKE. This year she’s taken on a morning and afternoon health class for ninth graders at De La Salle North Catholic High School. Hansen says it’s a rewarding challenge that fits with her training to become a health teacher. “My goal is to bring awareness of nutrition and health to help youth in their local communities become successful,” she says. “The importance of community health starts with youth, especially when addressing chronic diseases like diabetes.”

One of Vanessa’s favorite duties as a mentor is planning and presenting healthy snacks for the entire class. MIKE reinforces the message of healthy eating by providing easy and unique ways to introduce nutritious foods to youth. The combinations emphasize fruits, vegetables and whole grains, as well as drinking water.

“One of the largest factors against the push toward healthy lifestyles is all the temptations out there,” says Hansen. “Access plays a large part. There’s such convenience with fast food that it’s hard to pull back.”

Hansen says that convincing youth to focus on healthier eating habits can be challenging. When the youth complain that they are told to avoid so many of their favorite foods, Hansen offers them guidance and support. “It can be overwhelming, so I tell them it’s chipping away a step at a time, like decreasing the amount of sugar.”

Hansen likes that MIKE emphasizes healthy foods and the skills needed to analyze what’s nutritious. “Nutrition plays such a vital role in my life,” she says “MIKE comes up with fun ways for us to teach the youth valuable lessons about nutrition.”

MIKE provides youth with a set of actionable skills that help them distinguish nutrition facts from marketing while offering some real-world experiences to demonstrate those skills. During the program, MIKE hosts a field trip which places the youth inside a local grocery store. The youth must work in teams to search for healthy foods, practice food label analysis, then plan and purchase a healthy meal.

Hansen likes that MIKE guides youth toward sharing their new skills and knowledge through a health leadership project at the end of the program. The projects are youth-driven presentations that focus on a health message for their communities. Hansen’s first mentor team chose to present healthy snacks to a class of Kindergarteners last spring. “When the youth collectively plan and work on their Health Leadership Projects, they teach another generation.” she says. “It really brings it all home for them.”

MIKE is able to provide such valuable youth outreach experiences due to the support of caring individuals like you. Your contributions are helping build healthier generations.

Links:

• MIKE Program website