Teacher shows by example that ‘health is your wealth’
Published: March 8, 2006
Colleen White is not your traditional health teacher.
“I don’t teach to test, I teach to create a healthy lifestyle,” she said.
For almost 30 years, that’s just what the Wellington Landings Middle School teacher has done.
In the four years that she’s taught at the middle school, the Palm Beach Gardens resident has motivated teachers, students and parents to subscribe to a healthier lifestyle.
“My whole philosophy is ‘Health is your wealth,’” she said.
Although White didn’t have the healthiest upbringing, as a teenager she became an avid athlete, competing in swimming, gymnastics and tennis.
Now 52, White continues to swim, play golf, racquetball, and regularly attends yoga classes and works out at the gym.
For the past two years, White has coordinated an eight-week walking program for teachers.
“It’s fun and it’s so infectious,” she said.
Known as White’s Wellness Walk, teachers and even their spouses are given pedometers to track their daily steps. White gives those who reach their weekly goals a little reward, such as a candle, yoga video, even a lint remover.
“Rewards make a difference… and they love it when they get it,” she said.
With the help of a grant, White’s students also have pedometers and are learning how many steps it takes to burn off a healthy snack.
“Our main goal is to just get these kids going and being active,” she said.
But White’s goals don’t end with exercise and nutrition, she also teaches her students about reducing stress, human sexuality, drugs, alcohol and Internet safety.
“These days kids face a lot more problems,” she said.
Nearly every week of her nine-week course, White introduces students to guest speakers who have included a laryngectomy patient, who was a former smoker; a person who suffers from anorexia; and another who suffers from melanoma.
Showing her students firsthand what these diseases can do, makes for a dramatic and memorable experience — much more than any textbook could ever do, she said.
White offers the same experience to parents and teachers — speakers address parents about child safety at PTA meetings or talk to teachers about weight control, smoking and blood pressure.
But nothing is more popular to her students than a topic many parents dread — sexuality.
“They soak it up — they want to hear the right things,” she said.
Although she must follow strict guidelines with her curriculum and she doesn’t teach values and morals in her classroom, White said she has one personal policy she follows: honesty.
“I just think being honest with kids has gotten me through 30 years (of teaching),” she said.
White’s also been the catalyst for removing soda and candy from the school’s vending machines — a fundamental change for teaching healthy eating, she said.
And even though her school day ends at 4 p.m., White continues teaching another passion of hers — CPR.
A former swimming school owner, White certifies about 500 students, teachers and faculty at the school each year.
With her children Thomas, 23, and Sarah, 20, away at college, White has plenty of energy and time to continue her healthy lifestyle.
“I love it,” she said. “I still go off (to work) every morning excited.”
And she has no plans to stop anytime soon.
“I’ll work until I physically can’t.”
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