Sharing Grassroots Health’s Best Practices Nationwide
In July, program coordinators Lara Negrón Ocasio and Treniyyah Anderson traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexico to represent Grassroots Health and connect with lifelong educators, public health officials, and passionate community members at the American School Health Association (ASHA) Annual Conference. They shared Grassroots Health’s best practices, and engaged with other passionate people from across the nation invested in prioritizing the health of our students.
Treniyyah (aka Trigga-Tre) attended sessions on using data to advance adolescent health, and strategies for teaching LGBTQIA+ inclusive sexual education. She also participated in conversations regarding life disruptions, mental health, suicide risk, and perceived racism among high school students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both Treniyyah and Lara had the chance to connect with one of the surveillance managers for the CDC’s Youth-Risk Behavior Survey (A tool Grassroots Health uses to inform curriculum and students).
Lara’s favorite sessions discussed ways to engage different types of learners in health education and how to prioritize mental health promotion for students and school leaders alike through the pandemic. Lara had never been to New Mexico, so she jumped at the opportunity to learn more about the culture, the people, and the history of such a cool state. Albuquerque has great vegan spots, too!
Our Grassroots Health representatives brought the whole conference together by sharing how we use data to inform our curriculum. Lara and Treniyyah showed their colleagues that sharing data and learning together can be fun, and doesn’t have to be boring to students. A lot of people were impressed and blown away after learning about the work of Grassroots Health. The pictures say it all!
