Partnering for health

^{Above: School of Public Health Assistant Professor Katie Arlinghaus, right, and School of Nursing Associate Professor Barb McMorris, center, lead the grant that funds DiscoverU. SPH student Mary Onchiri, left, coordinates the program.}

The School of Public Health and School of Nursing joined with Columbia Heights Public School District to improve the health of middle- and high-school students while providing college students with experiential learning opportunities.

The program, called DiscoverU, is funded with $800,000 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as part of its Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child framework, which seeks more collaboration among education leaders and health sectors.

“This mutually beneficial partnership between Columbia Heights Public Schools and two schools at the University of Minnesota is a great example of how community-engaged research can tackle real-world challenges and improve overall health and wellbeing of adolescents within our local community,” says School of Nursing Associate Professor Barb McMorris, PhD, the grant’s co-principal investigator.

The goal of DiscoverU is to integrate social-emotional learning, physical activity and nutrition into an out-of-school program. Social-emotional learning includes working on self-awareness, social skills, self-management, relationship skills and responsible decision-making.

Good timing

The program comes at a time when school districts need it most, says School of Public Health Assistant Professor Katie Arlinghaus, PhD, the grant’s co-principal investigator.

“Kids’ emotional and mental health is at high risk coming out of the pandemic, and there’s a great need for this program,” says Arlinghaus. “We’re seeing a lot more violence, stress, rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide ideation, as well as declines in a lot of physical health markers, including a significant increase in Type 2 diabetes.”

Arlinghaus says that as schools struggle with resources and families are unable to participate in separate programs, DiscoverU has the practical effect of being more efficient and supportive by simultaneously addressing all aspects of health.

Kristen Stuenkel, MEd, director of community education and communications with Columbia Heights Public School District (CHPS), co-created DiscoverU with Arlinghaus and says that CHPS is a perfect fit for the program. It’s a relatively small school district with 3,400 students, and it is also racially, ethnically and socioeconomically diverse. More than 33% of students are English learners and 70% qualify for free or reduced lunch.

“Many people within those demographic characteristics have higher risks for health disparities,” she says. These disparities are often systemic, and tied to racism and other social determinants of health.

DiscoverU is designed for communities with concentrated poverty for whom health and educational programming is often less accessible and who typically carry a disproportionate health burden.

Discovering the mentor within

DiscoverU uses a tiered mentoring system where undergraduate students, most from the University of Minnesota, are trained to mentor high-school students, who in turn mentor middle-school students.

The program runs after school two days per week for 16 weeks. Initially, college mentors meet with middle- and high-school students separately. After the high-school students gain some mentoring skills, the middle-school students join them, says Mary Onchiri, DiscoverU project coordinator and School of Public student.

During each session, students participate in at least two physical activities, ranging from weightlifting to a popular game called Gaga ball. CHPS also has a robust school garden, which has allowed students to learn from mentors about nutrition firsthand and to have an opportunity to make their own snacks and pickle vegetables.

Students take part in large and small group discussions and talk about what Onchiri calls “big feelings” and how to handle them. They set health goals and identify their core values, such as family, respect, honesty or faith. They also talk about challenges that they've run into, how to overcome those, and how to navigate conflict and cope with stressful situations. “We are giving them skills on the front end to hopefully set them up for a healthier life in the future, not just physically, but also emotionally,” says Onchiri.

As the college and high school mentors model these skills and behaviors, the younger students develop a greater understanding of their importance for their overall health and future success. “Students really enjoy hearing what the college students have to say,” says Stuenkel. “It’s more fun for them than just engaging with other adults, because college students are kind of in between adults and high school students, so they serve as a bridge to adulthood.”

DiscoverU began in the spring of 2022, and the most recent iteration ended in March 2023.

“Kids are facing a lot right now in schools,” says Arlinghaus. “And so, having programs like this where they feel that they belong and are safe is really important.”

Partnering for health is a recurring feature that highlights a school partnership working to advance health care to improve the health and wellbeing of all.