A Special Thanks from the Project Healthy Schools Team

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As the 2022-2023 school year comes to a close, we wanted to take a moment to thank you for supporting our mission and work. We had an incredibly successful year supporting our network of schools across the entire state of Michigan. Thank you to each and every wellness champion for your continued leadership and passion. Thank you to our school wellness teams for your collaborative efforts in creating a healthy school wellness culture at your school and role-modeling healthy behaviors for your students and staff. For our donors and supporters, thank you for your financial support. This year we had an incredibly successful fundraising Heart Month and Giving Blueday campaign. From each member of our team, we send a collective and heartfelt THANK YOU. Please continue to check in with us on our PHS social media accounts via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok over the summer months!

Ann Arbor Food Service for Students is Now Open!

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Free meals will be made available to children 18 years of age and under or persons up to age 26 who are enrolled in an educational program for the mentally or physically disabled that is recognized by a State or local public educational agency. The meals will be provided without regard to race, color, national origin, age, sex, or disability, and there will be no discrimination in the course of the meal service. Meals will be provided at the sites listed below:

Head here for more information: https://www.a2schools.org/Page/17398

Food service will be closed on July 3 and 4, 2023 for the holiday.

Hart Middle School Receives Silver Michigan School Wellness Award!

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Katie Jazwinski, wellness champion at Hart Middle School, has learned how daily physical activity impacts student performance in her classroom. By highlighting how daily activity affects physical and mental health, Katie improves the emotional health of her students along with other important life skills that could make an impact on their future. Illustrating this, Katie shares the story of a student who enrolled in her Strength and Conditioning Class to get the required PE credit. One of her students had a negative outlook on PE and suffered from diminishing mental health and confidence. Through personal conversations and class surveys, Katie was able to learn about this student and form a close bond with them. Katie’s class allowed for this student and many others to learn the connection physical activity has with quality of life and witness the positive changes regular physical activity can have on a person. 

Within a week, the student changed their outlook on physical activity and the mind-body connection. Katie worked with this student to make a personalized plan with them to ensure continued physical activity. Gradually, this student started having a positive attitude in class and eventually became very eager to make it to school every day. In the beginning this student would skip class. Now, this student never skips Strength & Conditioning. Through improved physical activity, this student began to improve their nutrition as well by choosing healthier beverages and snacks. They are now one of the top powerlifters in the school and take care of both their physical health and mental health. Through physical activity and education, their entire sense of wellbeing has changed and has metamorphosized them into a happier and healthier person both inside and out. This student has even become an advocate for physical activity and healthy eating and has been encouraging friends and family to take part in healthier behaviors. Katie has watched her student’s confidence and independence rise and form a new light in their eyes.  She describes this student as a total inspiration to herself and to many other students and adults in their school.  This student is a true example of how physical activity can improve the quality of one’s life and how a healthy body leads to a healthy mind. Katie describes this student as her STAR STUDENT and a true example of what a success story should be! To learn more about Katie’s health and wellness efforts at Hart Middle School, follow their Instagram: @hartpirateshealthxpe

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The Hart Middle School wellness team gathers for their after-school fitness class.

PHS Hosts Inclusive Physical Activity Day at the Big House

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In celebration of ACES Day (All Children Exercising Simultaneously), Project Healthy Schools hosted a collaborative wellness event at U-M Stadium on Thursday, May 11th to promote physical activity for over 300 students from Detroit and Manchester. PHS partnered with U-M Athletics and U-M Adaptive Sports & Fitness to create rotating stations that allowed students to fully participate in inclusive physical activity exercises together, showing that students of all abilities can exercise and have fun together!

The six stations included Adaptive Volleyball, Relay Race, Kick, Catch, & Throw, Stretching & Yoga, Tag, and Supermarket Relay Race that included nutrition education. To support staff wellness, a teachers’ lounge was created where healthy food and drinks were provided for all attending teachers. The teachers’ lounge food was provided by our partners at SNACK (Supporting Nutrition Education and Culinary Knowledge). To learn more about SNACK, you can visit their website at:  SNACK (a2snack.org) As students exited the stadium, they were each given a cinch sack with healthy snacks, swag, and health resources and greeted by Thera Paws dogs to support their emotional well-being. Snacks and swag were provided by our sponsors at Meijer, the United Dairy Industry of Michigan (UDIM), and the Michigan Apple Committee. The event was a huge success and we look forward to collaborating more with U-M Athletics and U-M Adaptive Sports & Fitness in the future!

For more information about our sponsors from ACES Day, please visit the following websites:

Students from Detroit gather to participate in our inclusive physical activity day at U-M Stadium.

Our Request for Applicants (RFA) is Open Until June 30th!

Do you know a Michigan middle school that would be a great fit for Project Healthy Schools? Building Healthy Communities: Engaging Middle Schools through Project Healthy Schools (BHC:PHS) is now accepting applications for the 2023-2024 school year. Applications are due by Friday, June 30th. BHC:PHS recently held a webinar for all interested schools, if you missed it, you can view the recording here: https://youtu.be/wREgy0eSvmY.

To review the program RFA and to apply, please visit our application page at: Apply Now – Project Healthy Schools.

Michigan School Wellness Awards

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The Michigan School Wellness Award application is now open! Schools can apply here by Friday, April 28th at Midnight EST. All PHS schools who apply have a strong chance of receiving one of the four levels of awards: Gold, Silver, Bronze, Honorable Mention. We highly encourage all PHS schools to apply for this state-wide recognition since you are doing great work in supporting school wellness within your local community. Please visit the SWA website here for more information. If you have any questions or need any help with your award application, please reach out to your PHS wellness coordinator.

Winter PHS Wellness Grant Awards

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Congratulations to the following 4 schools who applied and received full awards for the Winter PHS Wellness Grant cycle. There are two grant cycles offered each year for year 3 and older schools. Schools can apply for up to $1,000 each grant cycle ($2,000 per school year) to support the wellness needs of their students and staff. Please reach out to your PHS wellness coordinator if you are interested in applying for a future wellness grant!

  • Blesch Intermediate School – PE Equipment
  • Beacon Day Treatment – Cooking Class Demonstration Mirror
  • Aspen Ridge Middle School – Bicycle Safety Program & PE Equipment
  • Almont Middle School – Fruits & Vegetables for tastings/smoothies & PE Equipment
Students at Suttons Bay Elementary & Middle School play with the “Nine Square in the Air” PE equipment they received from the PHS wellness grant in 2022.

Staff Wellness Resources for Testing Season

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Testing season is upon our schools. As teachers work tirelessly day-in and day-out to support their students during this stressful time, we want to make sure we are supporting our teachers. There are several resources located in the PHS Portal we have created for supporting staff wellness for our schools. Please take advantage of our PHS resources as we enter the spring testing season.

Under the “Education” tab we have Teacher Self-Care Training Modules. In collaboration with TRAILS, a program aimed to improve access to evidence-based mental health services and resources, the PHS team is pleased to offer this four-part series (introduction to self-care, mindfulness, getting active for mental health, and cultivating joy) to support emotional wellness for teachers and students. During each of the four 30-minute sessions facilitated by your PHS wellness coordinator, participants will work to cultivate their own emotional wellness through learning opportunities, meaningful discussions, and short activities. These sessions are also a great resource for students and include access to numerous additional resources to promote emotional wellness. For more information regarding these sessions, please reach out to your PHS wellness coordinator. Under the “Wellness Initiatives” tab, we have 11 staff wellness event ideas that can be implemented into your school community. These events can be tailored to your school needs with the hope of engaging and supporting your teachers, staff members, and administrators on their wellness journey.

March is National Nutrition Month

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National Nutrition Month is an annual campaign created 50 years ago in 1973 by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. During the month of March, everyone is invited to learn about making informed food choices and developing healthful eating and physical activity habits. This year’s theme is “Fuel for the Future.” Eating with sustainability in mind is a tasty way to nourish ourselves during every phase of life and protect the environment. Here are 50 ways to get involved with National Nutrition Month. You can also engage your students with some fantastic National Nutrition Month resources found here.

Today is Giving Blueday!

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Project Healthy Schools will be participating in the University of Michigan’s annual Giving Blueday on Wednesday, March 15th. This one-day (24 hour) fundraising campaign is designed to raise awareness and important funds to support amazing work happening across the university. Project Healthy Schools is honored to participate in this special event and looks forward to engaging our community donors. Please help us achieve our goal in receiving at least 50 donations. You can donate on the PHS Giving Blueday page located here. We work to create healthy school environments for our students and teachers and every dollar greatly helps in supporting our mission. Thank you for your generosity!