By Chester Charter Scholars Academy Healthy Highlights reporters | If you happen to make a bad decision, don’t worry about it. You can learn from it. And even fix it.
That’s some of the advice that Ms. Williamson, a middle school counselor, shared with CCSA Healthy Highlights reporters during a recent interview. The reporters will explore decision-making and its connection to health and will write about it in CCSA’s new health newspaper.
“People make decisions every second of each day, including me,” Ms. Williamson said. You have to decide if the outcome or consequences are worth it depending on your decision.
For Ms. Williamson, a good decision was finishing school and going to college. She said it was a good decision because she was able to get the credentials to work at a job that she enjoys and to direct her nonprofit organization that serves the community.
When asked about a decision that she regretted she said, “It is truly hard for me to regret any decision I have made because I learn from them. Any decision I have made in the past has made me who I am today.”
Middle schoolers are making decisions every day. Two common ones are what they eat and how much they sleep, Ms. Williamson said.
For instance, one reporter said that on several recent nights he chose to go to bed at 9:30 and wake up at 6:45 each morning. Getting more than nine hours of sleep a night made him feel more “focused, energized, and active.” He said he will try to make that decision more often. His challenge is to not let video games get in the way of the earlier bedtime.
Quandre, another reporter, said going to school every day benefits him because “education is important to help me prepare myself for the future.”
When people make good decisions, it can mean they know how to solve problems, Ms. Williamson said. A good decision leads to positive outcomes.
Surrounding yourself with positive people is one way that kids can increase their chances of making good choices. It helps with positive encouragement to make the best choices.
Written by CCSA Healthy Highlights 8A staff.
Illustration by Annabelle, fifth grade, William Cramp E.S., 2023–24.
