Health and the environment will be a primary focus for Healthy NewsWorks reporters during the upcoming school year.
Our 2022-23 theme is Caring for Our Earth and Ourselves, with an emphasis on climate change. The theme will enable our reporters in Grades 3-8 to consider the environmental and health benefits of such activities as walking instead of riding in a vehicle, drinking water from reusable bottles, and disposing of electronics appropriately. They also will explore their own feelings about the impact of climate change on the planet and neighborhoods, and discover solutions to problems that people are testing and implementing.
“We are excited that our reporters will learn about environmental issues and be able to share ways individuals can make a positive impact,” said Marian Uhlman, Healthy NewsWorks’ executive director.
As in the past 18 school years, our reporters will publish their findings in their unique school health newspapers. But they will also have the opportunity to contribute to Healthy NewsWorks’ inaugural magazine, which will focus on the Caring for Our Earth and Ourselves theme.
The new magazine, which will be available in Spring 2023 both in print and online, will enable Healthy NewsWorks to reach more students and teachers with more copies earlier in the school year than we could in our book program. The book program will be on hiatus this year, but all 11 books and classroom activities will remain on the Healthy NewsWorks website.
“The structure of the magazine will be similar to that of the books, including interviews with community leaders, student reflections, and artwork,” Marian said. “Plus, there will be some new features as well. Most importantly, we plan to share the magazine in April so the students’ work can be used in classrooms in the spring.”
Students also will have the opportunity to contribute to Healthy NewsWorks’ By Kids, For Kids web platform as well as to our 2023 Film, which will be a capstone project focused on the Caring for Our Earth and Ourselves theme.
Finally, because our recent How We Heal theme resonated deeply with our students, we will encourage our students to continue to report on topics such as coping, empathy, and sadness for their schools and our website. We’ve also included topics such as resilience and anxiety within the Caring for Our Earth curriculum.
“It certainly is going to be a busy year. But we are confident that our reporters will be up for it,” Marian said.
