Health Education Methods Class Reaches Out to Students at Bartley Elementary

Makygh Galbreath, ’22, and Torie Slaughter, ’21, were two of 16 students who taught an eight-week health class at Bartley Elementary School in Fulton.

Students in Dr. Therese Miller’s Health Education Methods class recently taught a special eight-week course to third graders at Bartley Elementary School in Fulton, MO. The class focused on a wide range of health topics ― from the importance of handwashing to stress management to the dangers of smoking cigarettes and vaping.

At each visit, college and elementary students shared a healthy snack that exposed the kids to new food options, including apples, hummus, spinach pops and guacamole. Information about each visit was highlighted in colorful handouts that the children could share with their families. On the last class, students created veggie- and fruit-stamped holiday greeting cards.

Bartley Elementary students wrote thank-you notes to the Westminster students for visiting their classrooms during the semester.

“I enjoyed building relationships with the students,” Makygh Galbreath, ‘22, of Fulton says of the time he spent in the classrooms of Lesley Arnold and Grace Yun. “I really learned how to speak to the kids, giving them enough information but also not too much.”

Miller adds that building teacher/student relationships was an important objective of the service-learning project, which was funded and supported by a Campus Compact grant. Last year’s pilot project was funded by Westminster’s Center for Teaching and Learning.

During finals, Miller’s students wrote summaries and reflections about their experience in the classroom.

“It all went very well, and we will really miss seeing the kids now that the semester is over,” Miller says.