By Tristan Shaver and Christopher Griffin Staff Writers
Freshmen at Benjamin Carson High School are carrying something new in their backpacks these days. In October, all freshmen were given a "compendium" containing reference materials to use in all their classes to complete assignments for cross-curricular project based learning work.
Students are using the compendium that was developed by teachers during the summer for the course and which Curtis Valasek, health careers exploration teacher said "is much more reliable than using internet sources since all the information is right there."
The freshmen are participating in a competition to encourage youths in Detroit to drink healthier beverages. Benjamin Carson staff judged the first round of three rounds of judging on Dec. 10-11. Judges for the second and third rounds will include health care teachers, professional and the staff of Dr. Reginald Eadie, the president of Harper University and Hutzel Women Hospitals. The winning submission will be used as a prototype for the 2015 healthy lifestyle campaign.
Freshman Christophe Brown said he thinks that students should feel great about having this opportunity because "it's a unique opportunity for learning about health risks." His group will be working on a campaign to promote tea as a healthier choice to sugary drinks.
The purpose of this competition is to help young Detroiters learn about healthy beverage alternatives to soda pop. Part of the project is to plan for ways to spread the message with the goal of "going viral" and as a result make Detroit a healthier place. Students are learning about different methods of spreading messages including t-shirts, murals and word-of-mouth campaigns.
The Academy of Health Science is a program that helps design curriculums for medical-based high schools and prepare high school students to get into his health industry.
Valasek said he believes that this program will help students gain the "foundation for understanding of the overall health of the human body and different health careers and skills needed to be successful."
“You learn a lot in this program and you gain of new experiences,” freshman Tonia Pope said.
