HOWELL — The crowd of rowdy yet attentive second- and third-graders gathered in the Middle School South cafeteria Thursday, waiting for their fellow peers to unleash the latest challenge.
?Lights, camera, action!? yelled Erin Parnell, a social worker in the student health awareness center at CentraState Healthcare System.
The students gazed at their classmates, who would then act out specific emotions and would have to guess what they were. The goal: to acknowledge one?s, or their own, feelings and how to approach them.
It was one of several activities Parnell and Annie Newman, also of Centra Healthcare System, had been demonstrating with students enrolled in the township?s recreation summer camps at Middle School South and Middle School North the last few weeks as part of a partnership program called ?Happy, Healthy Me.?
?We try to use what we teach during the school year to different schools, and we try to make it more fun at the local rec camps,? said Parnell Newman, adding this is the first year CentraState has partnered with Howell. ?We like to start them young and having them learn about self-esteem and why it?s important, because we feel if they have a good understanding and foundation (about it) there?s less likely incidents of bullying and other things that kids have to deal with.?
Other Thursday activities included a ?feelings soup? for students to identify their emotions, making a list of traits or talents campers have, and a treasure hunt designed to approach people and use basic social skills. Other lecture topics were nutrition and exercise, peer pressure, self-esteem, and gaining leadership skills.
In the soup activity, children yelled out various emotions, from elated to annoyed, to mix together in their stew of feelings.
Parnell said she has seen the groups, in kindergarten through fifth grade, became more extroverted and participated in more activities the past few weeks.
Marco Aiello of Howell comprehended the importance of a healthy diet.
?It?s also good to brush your teeth all the time,? said Marco, 9, adding he?ll start eating more apples, but definitely not bananas. ?And you can?t really hurt someone else?s feelings, because then it?s like you?re hurting your own.?
