OP_042519

8 | April 25, 2019 | the orland Park Prairie news
OPPrairie.com
New health fair gets Sandburg students socializing
Mental, emotional
health are among
focuses of program
Bill Jones, Editor
Sean Airola cannot help
himself when it comes to
revamping what physical
education and health can
mean for high school students.
After last year unveiling
a more tech-heavy
curriculum to update
physical education for
2018, Airola — Sandburg
High School’s division
chairman for physical education,
health and sports
medicine — was sitting
on the pool deck, thinking
about how he could
improve mental and social
well-being education
as the next step forward,
as the mind and body are
“one big whole.”
“I felt the best avenue
was within our health curriculum,”
he said.
And Sandburg’s inaugural
Mental-Emotional-
Social Health Fair was
born.
The fair kicked off the
morning of Thursday,
April 18, with a keynote
presentation from Karissa
Kouchis, a Sandburg
graduate who now works
with Tony Robbins. She
spent time in the school’s
Performing Arts Center
teaching students how
they can harness and focus
their emotions to
achieve their goals. She
talked about limited mental
states versus empowering
ones, and instead
of a lecture engaged the
students with shows of
hands, activities and open
discussion.
“She pumps up kids and
gives them the chance to
get out of their slumps,”
Airola said.
That was a goal of the
program as a whole: to
take students at an age
when their chemistry and
emotions are changing,
and give different personalities
the chance to
interact, open up to one
another and feel comfortable
with themselves.
“Oftentimes, you have
kids that don’t want to
branch out, get out of their
comfort zone,” Airola said
of high school. “We’re going
to give them that opportunity.
... There’s more
time to be social in these
kinds of settings.”
Students got to help
each other along that
path. Following the presentation,
students broke
out into three groups and
rotated through stations.
One stayed with Kouchis
to spend more time on the
keynote message; another
talked with social workers;
and the last got to
check out the fair itself,
which included outside
organizations such as The
Bridge Teen Center and
Orland Park Public Library,
as well as service
opportunities. But it also
featured student groups
such as Student Council,
Honor Society and SuperfanZ.
Twins Rachel and Ashley
Keller talked to students
about FEMpower,
Sandburg’s feminist club.
“Our goal is to empower
women and female students,”
Rachel said, noting
the group also raises money
for Girl Up, a United
Nations Foundation organization
that helps women
in developing countries.
The students also said
the group deals with intersectional
feminism,
encouraging everyone to
join the conversation. And
Ashley said she felt the
message was an important
one to have at the fair.
Dave Pascarella, from The Bride Teen Center, waits with Sandburg student Omar Beirat as a wheel spins to
determine his prize on Thursday, April 18, at the Mental-Emotional-Social Health Fair held at the high school.
Photos by Bill Jones/22nd Century Media
“We like to promote
self-love with women,”
she said.
The school’s Mindfulness
Club also had a booth.
Its goal was to share what
it can offer students.
“It teaches you to be
compassionate to ourselves
and others,” Mariam
Jaber said of the club’s
simple message.
Student Omar Beirat
said he had a great time
checking it out.
“I enjoyed it,” he said.
“It’s really good that the
schools are pushing for the
healthy stuff.”
He said the presentation
was fun, too.
“She’s really motivating
and gave us things to think
about,” Beirat said.
In a breakout group later
in the morning, Kouchis
encouraged students to “let
yourself soar,” and Airola
said he hopes that is what
this program does, too.
The curriculum continues
Mindfulness Club members (left to right) Victoria
Eakins, Nicole Buckley and Mariam Jaber pose at their
booth.
to evolve, and the educator
said this fair was the result
of how the education has
evolved over the last couple
of years, as well as the
support of not only others
in the physical education/
health department but also
the rest of the school and
district, who see an opportunity
to connect to students
on a different level.
“Everyone needs to play
a part,” Airola said, noting
he was allowed to “field
trip” the students for the
first three periods to take
part in this event.
In a twist from Airola’s
recent tech focus with
physical education, he said
it might be the tech that
makes it more difficult for
students to socialize nowadays,
because something
is lost as they spend more
time communicating electronically.
“They’re not talking
about where they’re at
mentally and emotionally,”
he said.
He is hoping programs
like this can change that
going forward, setting a
template for other schools
in the district in the process.
“I don’t think they knew
what to expect today,” Airola
said of the students.
“We’re going to see how
it goes.”