Montgomery Middle School

This initiative is linked to a health fair project that has taken place annually at Montgomery since 2001 based on collaboration between Sgoutas-Emch and Emalyn Leppard, among other colleagues, and it is linked to Prof. Wanic's PSYC 357 Health Psychology course. Health psychology explores the biopsychosocial aspects of health and well-being, along with causes of demographic health disparities and current health issues. The USD students will work with Montgomery Middle School students in order to create the health fair at the middle school at the end of the semester. Health Fair presentations will involve posters and interactive components designed to provide age-appropriate and relevant health-promotion information for the middle school students who visit the fair. The project provides USD student with the opportunity to apply what they learn in class and explore the challenges associated with health promotion and community organizing among different demographic groups. It also helps to highlight the assumptions they have about health behavior based on their prior experiences. The middle school students get exposure to USD, learn to interact with older students and gain mastery of material to provide them with competency feedback and bolstered self-esteem in addition to highlighting health as an important concern even at a young age.