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Student health advocates prepare for a healthy year
Members of The L.A. Trust’s Student Advisory Boards prepared for the new school year at The L.A. Trust Student Health Summer Learning Academy online.
Student Advisory Board members from LAUSD Wellness Center campuses prepared for a healthy — and challenging — new school year at The L.A. Trust’s annual Summer Learning Academy on student health online July 27–30.
“The turnout and level of engagement was impressive,” said Senior Program Manager Robert Renteria. “These student health advocates are highly motivated — it is an honor to work with them.” Students from six LAUSD campuses — Belmont, Carson, Crenshaw, Jordan, Locke and Washington — attended. The students were joined by staff members from The L.A. Trust’s student engagement team, LAUSD Adult Allies and several special guests.
Students were given an orientation on the Wellness Centers and The L.A. Trust, minor consent and confidentiality and an overview of youth mental health.
Carla Lavelle and Frank Dussan, psychiatric social workers from LAUSD, helped lead a discussion on mental health and resources. Attendees watched and discussed More than Sad, a video on depression. Stigma was identified a leading barrier to youth seeking treatment.
“As students go back to school after more than a year of pandemic isolation and stress, it’s important that these peer educators have all the information and resources possible,” Renteria said.
Other topics included data and public health, including The L.A. Trust Data xChange, selfcare, sexuality and identity, healthy relationship and how to create and conduct health campaigns.
Student advocates prepare at The L.A. Trust Academy
Student advocates, shown here at The L.A. Trust’s Y2Y Conference in March, discussed how to conduct peer campaigns in the new school year on August 4-7.
Two dozen Student Advisory Board members from five Los Angeles high schools met with staff members of The L.A. Trust for its first-ever Summer Academy learning session August 4-7, 2020.
The students learned how to conduct peer-to-peer health campaigns, discussed ways to encourage visits to L.A. Unified Wellness Centers, and gained greater knowledge of healthcare disparities. The four-day pilot event was attended by SAB members from Crenshaw, Jordan, Locke and Washington Prep, as well as students from John Marshall High School.
The online Academy was facilitated by four staff members from The L.A. Trust: Robert Renteria, program manager; Eddie Hu, program manager; Mackenzie Scott, student engagement program coordinator; and Dannielle Griffin, student engagement program assistant.
Organizational facilitators from L.A. Unified Student Health and Human Services helping to inform and guide the students included Gloria E. Velasquez, Victor Luna, Rene Bell-Harbour and Maggie Yu-DiPasquale.
Impressed
Renteria said he was impressed by the students’ commitment to the 20-hour learning program. Scott said the students were knowledgeable (“they could have presented my learning modules”) and engaged (“the chat was blowing up like crazy.”)
Students discussed mental health, sexual and reproductive health, substance use prevention, public health, and their own career development. Wellness Center staff logged on to brief the students on updated hours and services and how to refer peers to the clinics.
Students took a break from their learning to share their insights with The L.A. Trust Board of Directors at their annual retreat, August 6. Maryjane Puffer and Board members thanked the students for their frank accounts of how the pandemic is affecting them and their communities.
The L.A. Trust’s Student Advisory Boards have met since August 18, the first week of L.A. Unified’s 2020-2021 school year. Renteria said, “Thanks to the Summer Academy, we have students ready to conduct campaigns about student and community health and to help increase awareness and use of the primary, mental and oral healthcare services offered by L.A. Unified’s student and family Wellness Centers.”
Student advisory members train each other at Y2Y event
More than 100 student health advocates and their adult allies learned from each other March 2, 2020, at The Los Angeles Trust for Children’s Health annual Youth to Youth Conference, held at the California Endowment in downtown L.A.
Members of The L.A. Trust’s Student Advisory Boards from the Belmont, Carson, Crenshaw, Elizabeth Learning Center, Fremont, Gage, Jefferson, Jordan, Locke, MaCES, Manual Arts and Washington Prep campuses attended. The next Y2Y Conference will be held in November.
“Y2Y is for students, by students,” said Robert Renteria, The L.A. Trust’s program manager who helped facilitate the gathering. “Students think of questions and answers adults don’t think of,” he said. “They also have great credibility with their peers. We saw in our workshops that these young people have tremendous insights on student health.”
The Summit included an impassioned keynote by former Hollywood High Student Advisory Board member Wendy Siguenza, who talked about the real-life challenges facing many LAUSD students, from immigration to social injustice. LAUSD Student Health and Human Services psychologist Dr. Kimani Norrington-Sands addressed the hidden trauma some students have suffered and outlined services, counseling and referrals available through the District’s Wellness Center network.
The L.A. Trust’s partner F*ck Cancer hosted an information booth and an online petition to the California State Assembly to expand access to the life-saving human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine.
Youth-to-youth workshops
In the morning, students from Locke presented a one-hour workshop on how to promote HPV vaccinations; Crenshaw students gave a breakout session on STDs and birth control; and Carson students outlined how to relieve stress and improve the mental health of teenagers. In the afternoon, students from Jordan High gave a workshop on how to run a student health campaign on campus.
Students also participated in workshops on:
Wellness & Adolescent Substance Use Prevention project (WASUP)
Tobacco Use Prevention Education (TUPE), focused on vaping cessation
The L.A. Trust’s Healthy Eating, Active Living (HEAL) outreach
A presentation on LAUSD water quality by the District’s Chief Facilities Executive Mark Hovatter
A separate track provided information for the Student Advisory Boards’ Adult Allies.
The conference an exercise that asked students to consider the most important parts of their identities, including ethnicity, sexual orientation and personal passions, a social media challenge, a photo booth and a TikTok-inspired “Renegade” dance competition.
“The Y2Y event is always an ‘all hands on deck’ event for The L.A. Trust, and our entire staff was proud to support our student advocates once again,” said Maryjane Puffer, executive director. “The enthusiasm of the young people is not just inspiring, it’s essential to the success of our programs and outreach,” she said. “It’s why we build student engagement into everything we do at The L.A. Trust.”
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.”