By Maria, Lily, Claire, Amelia, Jaxon, and Alexander, Healthy Panther Post reporters | “Building a healthy community starts with you,” said seventh-grade science teacher Mrs. Marsteller, who was interviewed by Healthy Panther Post about some ways she helps create a safe and healthy environment in MaST Community Charter School.
School Nurse Mrs. Schick agreed with her colleague. Both women talked about the importance of having mutual respect as a way to develop an understanding for each other and ourselves.
“I think students need to be kinder to each other and find better ways to cooperate with emotions,” Mrs. Schick said. “The big thing in seventh grade is mental well-being.”
Being active helps mental and emotional health
Staying healthy mentally and emotionally is also related to students’ physical health.
Mrs. Marsteller said her sponsorship of the running club helps give children more access to exercise that will benefit them. She noted that other staff members host sports that promote fitness, such as Mr. Trichon, a sixth-grade teacher who also coaches basketball. She would love for her fellow teachers to allow the upper middle school students to have recess time to let them stay active.
Mrs. Schick said gym class and extracurricular activities such as the running club allow students to engage in more active lifestyles. But she would like for seventh graders to have gym year-round, and she encourages MaST teachers to allow movement breaks every once in a while.
As the school nurse and a member of the wellness council, Mrs. Schick described other ways the school helps keep students healthy. For instance, the school provides healthy lunch options. She performs annual screenings (height, weight, vision) for students and offers health-supporting tips.
“Instead of cupcakes or other sweets for rewards, I think we should replace them with nonfood items,” she said, giving one example. Such a change in our school can create several new opportunities for healthy behaviors.
Counselors play a role in students’ success
Along with promoting physical fitness, Mrs. Marsteller also told us how MaST helps students stay well mentally and emotionally.
“All students have access to the middle school counselor,” she said, adding that MaST has “quality staff that deeply care about the students.” They create beneficial rules for student safety.
Counselors help students understand their individual learning styles and encourage them to develop skills that will enable them to reach their academic potential. Counselors work with the students to set both short- and long- term goals, improve attendance, and reduce and resolve conflicts.
Following school rules keeps students safe
Overall school safety relies on having security guards on site and procedures in place such as fire drills and keeping doors locked during and outside the school hours, according to Mrs. Schick.
She encourages students to follow rules. For ex- ample, fire drills allow students to familiarize themselves with what to do in an emergency and reinforce proper evacuation procedures and practices. They also prepare students to safely evacuate if fire alarms sound. With the help of security guards and by keeping doors locked, both students and staff are protected in case of an active threat.
Everyone in the school community is able to assist in creating a school where students and staff feel engaged and respected, according to The National Schools Climate Center. We also play a role in the well-being of our community by taking care of ourselves—eating healthy, staying hydrated, and more, says KidsHealth.org, a health website.
Mrs. Schick said that as long as students and staff begin to take action against unhealthy school habits and replace them with healthier decisions, a healthy school environment may seem far closer than we think.
Maria, Lily, Claire, Amelia, Jaxon, and Alexander are in seventh grade.
Illustration by Briana, seventh grade, MaST Community Charter, 2023–24.
