Fourth graders at Charles W. Henry School in Philadelphia have published the first issue of the Healthy Henry Hawk. Henry is one of three new Healthy NewsWorks partner schools that began programming this fall, alongside Octavius V. Catto Family School and Yorkship Family School in the Camden City School District. This year, Healthy NewsWorks will work in nearly two dozen schools across the region.
A central theme of the 2025–26 school year is Making Healthy Connections, which focuses on how relationships and social bonds contribute to overall health. Students are exploring how kindness, cooperation, and positive interactions support emotional well-being, reduce conflict, and help build strong school communities. Through reporting, discussion, and reflection, students learn that health is shaped not only by physical habits, but also by how people connect with and care for one another.
That message comes through clearly in a poem featured in Healthy Henry Hawk’s first issue, written by Annie Sheaffer, a fourth grader:
Healthy Connections
When I think of healthy connections
I think of this
People talking
No need for fists
Helping a friend when their head is down
To turn their frown the other way
To make them smile
To make their day
Don’t bring people down
Don’t make their smile turn into a frown
Keep their candle glowing
Don’t ever blow it out.
Fourth-grade reporters also reflected on what social connections are and why they matter. One student, Wyatt Clark, explained that making connections means building bonds and relationships with others, describing how staying connected to a friend includes giving advice, helping one another, playing together, and asking questions to learn more about each other.
Another reporter, Malcolm Brodie, shared that social connections are positive relationships built through kindness, respect, and being a good friend, noting that even small gestures like giving compliments can help friendships grow. Annie Sheaffer described social connections as people coming together for happy conversations, and the reporter also shared that helping classmates, spending time together, and being kind are important ways to stay connected.
