Garfield Elementary kindergartners Manuel Guevara and Jeffrey Soriano look over their new ‘Healthy Choices’ coloring book presented to them earlier this month by interns in the RHS Health and Fitness program.
Revere High School (RHS) students distributed more than 3,500 coloring books to elementary school students all over the city earlier this month, and it certainly brought smiles to the faces of the younger students.
Some 22 interns in the Health and Fitness internship at RHS – which is funded by a grant from Mass General Hospital – put their heads together with advisor Doreen DiRienzo at the outset of the year to come up with a project that would promote healthy living.
Most of the interns wanted to concentrate on helping younger children, and so a series of ideas were suggested.
In the end, they decided that a coloring book promoting healthy lifestyles would be the best idea.
It took four months to compile the materials and to create a colorful picture collage on the front cover.
DiRienzo said this is the fifth year for the interns and the grant program.
Dan Richards, part of the team from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) that is visiting Revere High School this week, speaks with Freshman Andres Perdomo in the library computer lab on Monday afternoon. Richards, a chair of the visiting committee who hails from Mel-rose, is part of a large group that analyzed the high school, its students, parents and staff members from Sunday to Wednesday as part of the 10-year accreditation process.
“Every year we do a project in the community to educate people on how to live healthier,†said DiRienzo. “That’s part of the internship. We decided to do the coloring book this year and it really turned out great. It was a pleasant experience and we really looked forward to distributing them.â€
Madison Printing of Revere did the design and printing of the books.
The books were distributed to each student in the elementary schools on March 9th, and there were plenty of smiles.
“What’s great about this is it’s children in the community improving the lives of other children in the community,†she said. “Everyone came together on this year’s project and it was a real community project.â€
