F&HS is committed to improving student and parent awareness of the need for physical activity, proper nutrition and appropriate mental attitudes.  We accomplish this by building fit and healthy schools, focusing on one youth at a time.  Our program provides educational materials to students, parents, teachers and athletic instructors in our local school system and beyond.

Our network of speakers and certified instructors help to:

• Provide balanced exercise, nutrition, and kindness education for school-aged youth.
• Demonstrate and model safe and fun activities for teachers and students.
• Empower youth to take responsibility for healthy habits, improve self-esteem, build self-assurance and foster a lifelong commitment to health, fitness, and respect for themselves and others.
• Engage schools and families to help teach respect to our youth, both in athletics and life.

Our program fosters building respect for our differences both inside and outside the classroom using a train-the-trainer methodology for parents and teachers. We have included a training component for a sample workshop with students. Our instructors work with a variety of cultural backgrounds in a variety of educational environments.

Diversity training is a fundamental component of a diversity initiative and represents the opportunity for school districts to inform and educate administrators, teachers, and parents about diversity. The purpose of training is not only to increase awareness of diversity in the schools, but also to develop and enhance skills among parents, students and teachers to help them communicate more effectively with each other. Diversity training has the ability to increase awareness, impart knowledge and educate people further on how to accept differences in those they encounter in their lives.  The main goal of our diversity-training program is to create a positive environment by helping participants to recognize and be tolerant of differences among those they interact with in school, work and life.

Diversity training programs often fail for several reasons.

1. They’re viewed as the latest human resource fad or because an outside agency recommends a diversity program.
2. Many school districts fail to implement diversity programs that are custom-made for their needs.  Many school districts select a generic program not tailored to their organizational structure or culture.
3. Parents and teachers feel the material is not relevant to their job and simply see the training program as a waste of time.
4. Inadequate resources supplied to implement changes.

When a proper diversity-training program is initiated within a school district, the schools and participants benefit from elevated commitment levels to teaching and learning, motivation over all increases and there is a renewed focus on reaching higher levels of learning. According to a study conducted by National Center for Research in Vocational Education at the University of Illinois: “The most effective diversity training programs are inclusive. These programs aim at enrolling all participants; obtain the support of both school district management and parents; keep their definitions broad, in order to include everyone as part of the diversity that should be valued; conduct needs assessment and customize programs to meet organizational needs; follow action plans; and provide accountability.”

Fit & Healthy Schools (F&HS) has produced a diversity training program that includes: awareness-based training, to increase knowledge and sensitivity to diversity issues; and skills-based training, to provide a set of skills to enable participants to deal effectively with diversity in the schools and their lives.

Train-the-Trainers Program

In the United States, diversity and social inequalities, differences and problems are often ignored or shrugged off largely because a lack of understanding and toolset in which to confront the problems.

Recent studies have shown a proven pattern of success in our society where social boundaries are blurred, crossed and broken down. Because of this, it is imperative now, more than ever, that our school’s teachers, staff and faculty are armed with the knowledge and tools to teach students to do the same.

F&HS’s Diversity Program helps facilitators create a safe environment for diversity exercises and discussions, and generate a willingness to participate from students for reflections after exercises. It also enables facilitators to anticipate any problems individual students may have in advance so that they can be addressed effectively.

Topics covered in the diversity curriculum:

• In-group favoritism/Cliques
• Borders and Boundaries
• Bullying
• Confidence and Respect
• Mixing it up

The goal of F&HS diversity training is to teach facilitators how to build acceptance for a diverse environment with respect towards all people. The training equips facilitators to set a tone of positive energy in a safe environment and to encourage people to open up and share aspects of their cultural background with each other.

This program helps individuals and groups to break down barriers, create new relationships and strengthen individuals in the process. This enables students to see differences with acceptance, understanding and an attitude of mutual respect and cultural openness.

Three instructors facilitate our Train-the-Trainer program. The workshop lasts three hours; participants rotate instructors at the 50-minute mark and have a 10-minute break between sessions. The program is broken into the following parts:

Part 1: Ice Breaker and Lecture – This section allows participants and instructors to get to know each other, discuss what’s going to be learned, and to set expectations and agreements. The lecture portion will cover what diversity is and why it is important.

Part 2: Empowerment and Activities – Participants will work on project ranging from In-group Favoritism, Borders and Boundaries, Bullying, Confidence Building, and more.

Part 3: Diversity Workshop and Discussion – The purpose of this section is to create a safe environment and a value for participation from participants, which will enrich the experience of everyone. We look at demographic statistics and how they relate our selves, family, friends, community and the country.

Participants receive Program Booklet, Respect Book, Every Other Day Cards, Respect T-Shirts, and a Certificate of Completion.

Student Program

Many of our schools a training component for students as well as a part of this overall program. For example, if we have a group of students ranging in grades from 6^th – 12^th, our modules to work with the students are broken into two groups, 6^th-8^th and 9^th-12^th. Students will break into groups of 20-30 students each with an Instructor. The student program lasts approximately 3 hours and rotates each group through each Instructor. Students will cover several of the topics and programs that the teachers and parents learned to use in their classrooms and at home. F&HS asks that there be several Guidance Counselors in attendance to help support any questions or concerns the students come up with as they would be most familiar with the students from their respective schools.

Part 1: Ice Breaker & Workshop – Fun, engaging introductions between students and instructors. The Workshop includes topics such as the World Village, Borders and Boundaries, and Bullying.

Part 2: Taking Action! – Students develop the confidence to take action in situations where boundaries have been crossed, the skills to stick up for others and gain respect for people’s differences and perspectives.

Part 3: Diversity Workshop & Breaking Barriers – Students come back together as a cohesive group. We look at demographic statistics and how they relate our lives, family, friends, community and the country. Students participate in a diversity circle and then follow it up with a discussion on what their feelings, thoughts and responses were to the exercises.

Session Evaluations

Our team conducts both pre- & post- training assessments for the Train-the-Trainer sessions, as well as a 6-month follow-up survey to determine how the programs are working in the classrooms and/or at home for the parents. All participants have year round access to the Fit & Healthy Schools website where they can continue access and download program information to use in their classrooms and lives.

Students attending the Student Program will take a pre- & post- quiz identifying their knowledge of cultural diversity and respect. Students also have year round access to the Fit & Healthy Schools website where they can participate in diversity discussions and continue to find exercises to increase their knowledge and awareness with diversity and sensitivity issues.