Student Advisory Board allies share best practices to engage students

Program Manager Robert Renteria and other staff members from The L.A. Trust led the spring 2020 meeting of Student Advisory Board Adult Allies on January 29.

Adult allies who work with the Student Advisory Boards of the LAUSD’s Wellness Center network met at The L.A. Trust January 29, 2020 to discuss outreach programs to improve student health.

More than a dozen Adult Allies and healthcare advocates from across the Wellness Center Network attended, including Norma Ahumada, Cassie Angu, Hanna Christianson, Kristie Garrison, Karina Gonzalez, Annette Hernandez, Deannie Moreira, Marina Quintanilla, Adam Renuet, Miriam Villaseñor, Stephan Salazar, Miguel Topete, Michelle Torres and Brenda Villatoro. 

Strategies and tactics

The half-day meeting, facilitated by Program Director Robert Renteria, included tactics to engage students, best practices sharing and a review of resources available from The L.A. Trust and other sources. 

The meeting focused on five student health campaigns prioritized by The L.A. Trust: 

• Healthy Eating and Active Living, designed to reduce childhood obesity and promote healthier eating habits and more active lifestyles.

• Essential Access Health, designed to increase awareness of sexually transmitted disease, increase chlamydia screenings at school-based Wellness Centers and reduce teen pregnancy rates.

• Not Us, designed to encourage vaccination for the human papillomavirus (HPV) and reduce related cancers.

• TUPE (Tobacco-Use Prevention Education), designed to educate students about the health risks of vaping and using drugs, including cannabis and tobacco.

• SBIRT, a Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral-to-Treatment practice used to identify, reduce and prevent the use and abuse of alcohol, tobacco and drugs.

Peer education key

“Our Student Advisory Boards are key to helping students make the right choices, and our adult allies ensure they get the resources they need,” Robert Renteria said. “The L.A. Trusts works directly with these student health leaders and we are looking forward to hearing their ideas March 2 at our annual Y2Y (youth-to-youth) Summit.”

“Every student, like every adult, has the power to improve their health,” Rosario Rico added. “It is up to those of us in the student health community to make sure students have the education and healthcare access they need. 

“I am amazed at the passion of our adult allies and the passion of our student health advocates. They are making a real difference in the health outcomes of LAUSD students.”