Program Overview

The School-Based Program (also known as MKITS) has begun! 

Entering its third year, SMYSP will continue outreach efforts in four under-resourced partner communities. Over 200 students from Covelo, East San Jose, Oakland and Stockton will devote one period of their weekly science class to learn about heart disease and stroke, community-based public health research, college admissions and health careers.

Hands-on activities such as calculating fat content and portion size of fast food meals, evaluating local park and recreation facilities, and examining smoking in the entertainment industry will highlight how environmental risk factors can contribute to heart disease and stroke. Students will conduct survey research among peers and school staff to investigate how risk factors of poor diet, physical inactivity and smoking specifically influence the health of their school and local community. Past research projects have included topics such as: “Do students who purchase lunch on campus eat more high fat foods than those students who bring their lunches from home?” and “Do students who smoke receive lower grades in schools than students who do not smoke?” Project results are presented to the school community each spring. SMYSP is working to prepare the newly revised MKITS curriculum for national dissemination within the coming years.

To supplement in-class activities students will shadow health professionals and tour local colleges and universities in order to gain a better understanding of possible career options, postsecondary education, and college campus life.

Science teachers, Natalie Smith and David DeLeeuw (of Oakland Technical High School), Richard Filson (of Edison High School in Stockton), and Amanda Wilson (of Round Valley High School in Covelo) will continue to implement the curriculum weekly.

Public Health in Schools and Communities

Public Health in Schools and Communities: A focus on heart disease and stroke and their risk factors by Dr. Marilyn Winkleby.

In this PowerPoint presentation, Dr. Marilyn Winkleby discusses risk factors related to smoking, poor diet and physical inactivity and highlights how environmental factors contribute to cardiovascular disease. The School-Based Program stresses a similar public health approach to science, as students identify cardiovascular disease risk factors in their schools and communities.