During wellness week, students at Legacy Traditional School – Chandler participate in activities designed to develop and encourage a happy, healthy lifestyle.
To kick off the week-long event, Leah Bruley, PE teacher at Legacy – Chandler, invited seven medical, wellness and fitness professionals to speak with fourth through eighth-grade students.
“My goal in bringing these presenters to the school was to allow them to tell the students what their career is, but also what the necessary schooling looks like and how to get there,” Bruley said.
The career-oriented fair, had seven stations, each accompanied by a fitness industry professional. Legacy students rotated from station to station and spent five to seven minutes discussing health-related careers and asking questions.
An orthopedic doctor, chiropractor, personal trainer and athletic trainer were in attendance and fielded career questions. Other presenters, who are also Legacy – Chandler parents, included a former NFL football player, two registered nurses and a dental hygienist.
“We are so lucky to have parents with such great careers,” Bruley said. “I love how we got to bring parents in and engage our community and then you have students coming to watch their parents and friend’s parents, which is amazing.”
Former NFL Player and Legacy – Chandler parent Devin Clark spoke about discipline and the effort needed to reach a professional level.
“Devin talked about nutrition; eating right, getting enough sleep, and then tied that into getting your grades right,” Bruley said. “It was a great look into what a healthy, well-rounded lifestyle looks like.”
Bruley said Legacy students responded positively to the fair and engaged in thought-provoking discussion and questions relating to the credentials and education needed for the job.
“Now that this was such a big hit, I am doing this every year,” Bruley added.
While wellness week concluded after five days, the Legacy Traditional School wellness program persists throughout the school year.
The wellness program, separate from Legacy’s Momentum physical education course, takes a new approach to health and fitness education. Bruley says the course’s unique design aims to imitate a small, inspiring group fitness environment.
“My goal was to pull away from the sports-specific education aspect of a standard physical education class and allow the less competitive kids, who are maybe not interested in team sports but still want to be fit and work individually, to have a comfortable environment to do so,” Bruley said.
The wellness program is made up of co-ed classes and averages about 20 students per class. The curriculum is inspired by yoga, Tabata, core strength, ballet, barre, boot camp fitness, and nutrition.
Bruley explained the wellness program at Legacy stretches beyond traditional physical education curriculum to address the many aspects of a healthy lifestyle, such as self-esteem, nutrition, portion control, screen time and body image.