Aragon students browsed the health and wellness expo on Apr. 29 hosted by health teacher Barbara Beaumont, along with several organizations that work to promote a healthy lifestyle.
The expo featured over a dozen companies and local organizations with the purpose of promoting a healthy lifestyle. Behavioral Health and Recovery Services representative Winnie Chan says, “We want to educate students about the different resources we have especially when it comes to suicide prevention.”
In addition to these booths that provided information and pamphlets for students to pick up, there were also several interactive booths in which students could participate in.
Students were able to get connections with groups and receive help if needed. “They get all the contacts and understand more about their overall health — social, mental, environmental — and can put it in their health records for the future,” says health and P.E. teacher Barbara Beaumont. “From this, teens can also have someone to talk to and extra resources besides teachers, counselors, and parents and have more access to health groups that are specifically for them.”
Attending this event at this time may also be particularly beneficial to teenagers at this age. Chan says, “Especially now in high school, it’s a very stressful time so we hope to help in a way by giving them these resources and knowing that they are all available to them.”
From Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse (CORA), Carelle Karimimanesh adds, “Violent behavior begins between ages 12 to 18. Our goal is to reach out to the teen community and let them know about the issue of abusive relationships.”
Beaumont considers future improvements, saying, “I’d love to have a food booth where students can sample healthy choices and see the recipe along with it so that they make it themselves at home. I also hope to advertise more next year, through video announcements and posters, to get more juniors and seniors to come in since they won’t have the opportunity to during health and P.E. classes.”
