Making Good Decisions
Understanding How People’s Choices Can Affect Health
During the 2024–25 school year, Healthy NewsWorks reporters have researched decision-making and how people’s choices can affect their health. They explored topics including social media, mindfulness, friendship, and the brain. Please ask your students to view our reporters’ videos and read the Spring 2025 and Fall 2025 editions of By Kids, For Kids magazine. Use the activities below to help your students think about how they make decisions. They also can contribute a reflection to our By Kids, For Kids page.
Watch Student Videos
Read Student Magazines
Activities to Use in Your Classroom
Write a reflection
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Dean Millard, Villanova University student body president, shares how good decisions have contributed to his success. Think about what you’d like to do in your future and write a plan to get there and the good choices you’ll have to make along the way.
Create a mind map
View Acitivity
Dr. Joseph Kable talks about how choices help our brains learn regardless of the outcome. Think of choices you make every day. List the decisions you have to make and write about the possible outcomes of each path. For example, you may have to decide whether to do your homework as soon as you get home or wait until after activities or dinner. What are the potential outcomes of each?
Write a PSA
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Dr. Jen Caudle shares advice for limiting social media usage. Use one of her tips and create a public service announcement.
Write a letter
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Tim Massaquoi talks about the importance of friendship. Think about someone who has been a good friend to you. Maybe they’ve stuck by you through something difficult or cheered you up when you’re feeling down. Write a letter, thanking them and telling them what they’ve done to be a good friend.
Mindfulness
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With the help of a grownup or trusted adult, research some mindfulness techniques. According to Dr. Dan Taylor, getting started with just a couple of minutes of mindfulness can help you build healthy habits. Find three techniques you could try out. Write down what the technique is and how it made you feel.
Write a reflection
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In an interview with Alison Stumacher, deputy director of education for the Alliance for Decision Education, MaST students heard about making choices. Write a reflection about a time you made a decision that turned out to be a mistake and what you learned about the experience. Would you make a different decision?
Write an affirmation
View Acitivity
In the interview with social worker Kevin Carter, eighth-grade students learned about coping with emotions like depression and anxiety. One of his suggestions is to practice self-affirmation, finding positive ways to remind yourself of your worth and strengths. Write yourself an affirmation and put it somewhere where you’ll frequently see it—in the front of your school notebook, or on your bathroom mirror, or maybe next to your bed.
Write a PSA
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Keith Prewitt, a former deputy director of the U.S. Secret Service, had these tips to help people make good decisions:
- Say something if you see something that doesn’t look right
- Pay attention to your intuition
- Be a good listener
- Stay safe on social media
- Show respect to others and respect yourself
- Create a public service announcement that uses this advice. Include an illustration
Create a recipe
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Tricia Yeo, senior manager of health and wellness at the Food Bank of South Jersey, shared information about healthy snacks. She says a healthy snack includes at least two of the five food groups (for example, apples and peanut butter or a banana and yogurt). Create and illustrate some healthy snack ideas
Write a reflection
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Dr. Pearl English, school nurse at Eleanor Emlen School in Philadelphia, described what students miss when they are absent from school. Write a reflection about what you miss when you are home sick.
Observe
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“Noise pollution is unwanted sound that isn’t good for our hearing and our physical and mental health,” according to Dr. Erica Walker, creator of the Community Noise Lab. Find a place to sit and listen to all the sounds around you (traffic, lawn equipment, pets, construction, etc.). List them and describe how they make you feel.
Meet Our Featured Leaders
Dr. Joseph Kable
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Dr. Joseph Kable is a psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He studies human decision making by integrating ideas from economics, psychology, and neuroscience. He has given talks at the Franklin Institute and Philadelphia Science Festival and his work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, NBC News, and Freakonomics.com.
Dean Millard
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Dean Millard is the first Black Student Body President in Villanova University’s history. He also serves as Senior White House Correspondent for AKSM Media and is a Peer Tutor in Villanova’s Writing Center. One of Dean’s favorite experiences in journalism is working with ABC News for the 2024 Presidential Debate.
Dr. Jen Caudle
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Dr. Jennifer Caudle is a family medicine physician and professor at Rowan University-School of Osteopathic Medicine. Before this, Dr. Caudle was an instructor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She appears as a regular on-air health expert for local and national news networks, including The TODAY Show, CNN, FOX News, and many others.
Tim Massaquoi
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Tim Massaquoi is a counselor, Executive Director of The Kingsessing Heals Community Resilience Center, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Organization Development. Tim is also a board member for the Philadelphia Youth Sports Collaborative and the Healthy News Works advisory board, and was nominated for the NFL Retired Players Mental Health Advisory Board.
Dr. Daniel Taylor
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Dr. Dan Taylor is a professor of Pediatrics at Drexel University College of Medicine and a general pediatrician at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, where he directs several community outreach programs. Dr. Taylor founded Cap4Kids, an online resource connecting families to community services and providers to address social determinants of health.
Pearl English
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Dr. Pearl English is a school nurse at the School District of Philadelphia. She has been a nurse for over 35 years and enjoys working with children. She has a doctoral degree from Drexel University where her dissertation examined the effects of obesity on self-esteem in children and young adolescents.
Erica Walker
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Dr. Erica Walker is a professor of epidemiology at the Brown University School of Public Health. She is also the founder of Community Noise Lab, a research lab that supports communities as they address their unique environmental health issues, which may include air pollution, noise pollution, soil pollution, visual pollution, and water quality.
Alison Stumacher
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Dr. Jennifer Caudle is a family medicine Ali Stumacher is the Deputy Director of Education at the Alliance for Decision Education, with nearly 20 years in education as a teacher, coach, and trainer across public, charter, and independent schools in Philadelphia. Formerly a Literacy Supervisor at the Children’s Literacy Initiative, she supported early literacy with district leaders.
Kevin Carter
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Kevin Carter is a therapist and educator. Kevin has led grief programming in many settings nationally, especially for communities of color, and serves on the board of the National Alliance for Children’s Grief. He has taught at multiple universities, integrating grief and trauma into social work curricula, and is recognized for his holistic, community-centered approach to healing and resilience.
Keith Prewitt
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Keith L. Prewitt is the Enterprise Chief Public Safety & Security Officer at Thomas Jefferson University–Jefferson Health. He previously served as Chief Security Officer for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and as VP of Cable Security at Comcast. Prewitt also led Harvard Protection Services and served 30 years with the U.S. Secret Service, including as Deputy Director. In 2021, he was appointed Senior Special Advisor to the U.S. House Sergeant-at-Arms following the Capitol breach. His awards include Presidential Rank distinctions and The Met’s “Profiles in Leadership.”
