Program Spotlight

Fast Learning Curve for Teens at UM Healthy Start Program

Erika Cantillo’s cheeks glisten with perspiration as she pedals steadily on the exercise bike. Her teen teammates from the UM Healthy Start Program, dressed in white lab coats, huddle around her.

 They watch as Erika grows winded and wait for her to hit her fatigue threshold.

Stacy Cutrono, a doctoral student at UM, observes while Healthy Start students conduct blood and heart- rate tests.

Fitness and health literacy are at the core of this afternoon exercise just as they are for the Healthy Start Summer Program, funded by The Children’s Trust. More than 100 teenagers in all, most of them from Sunset and John A. Ferguson High Schools, participated in the two four-week camp sessions held at the Coral Gables campus of the University of Miami. 

Healthy Start strives to address both the decline in health education and fitness in schools and the “summer gap,” when children and youth who are out of school decrease their physical activity.

“There’s no PE in schools, no health or wellness, females and minorities especially show drop-offs in physical activity in high school. Health education has been dropped – we’re trying to reverse that,” explains Program Director Mark Stoutenberg, who earned his doctorate in Exercise Physiology from UM. “This is maybe a chance for parents to keep children engaged during the summer in a fun activity and learning.”

Students start their day with a jog along the sidewalk of the Coral Gables campus. Camp assistants, doctoral students in UM’s Department of Exercise and Sports Sciences, position themselves at the intersections to help the teenagers cross. They slap palms and shout words of encouragement as the youths huff and puff by, jogging their way to the state-of-the-art weight room and training center. 

Team leader Anthony Stover shows Daniel Bolivar and Tyera Harralson (right) how to plot and graph the data they have gathered on physical activity.

After the fitness session, the teens attend from two to three hours of lectures and presentations, provided by UM professors, on some aspect of kinesiology, the science that studies body and movement and its relationship to fitness. Each week of the camp follows a theme: sports performance, body fat composition and cardiovascular. 

The camp emphasizes team sports play, and students go on weekly field trips – to the Whole Foods natural food store, ice-skating – all geared to help improve their fitness and to make intelligent choices related to their personal health and well-being. The youths also are encouraged to shift their diets to include healthier food. Alejandro Alvarez, a 10th grader this year at Ferguson, tried almond butter and organic yoghurt for the first time – and now loves them both.  

Guided by Chair Dr. Arlette Perry, Stoutenberg and others in the Exercise and Sports Sciences Department piloted the program three years ago. They tracked 18 students in Miami inner-city schools over three summers to develop the curriculum. The program launched this year, though not without a few hiccups. Coordinating for student participation and transportation through the school system has posed challenges. 

In addition to a focus on fitness and health, the camp offers teens a close-up look at college life.

 “The students know that this isn’t just about exercise and sports – this is what it’s like to go to a university,” says Stoutenberg, adding “we treat them like adults, we don’t tell them where to go on breaks or follow after them.”

Yet the maturity curve can be sharp. While they’re given independence, students must demonstrate mature behavior due to the close interaction with UM faculty. Because the program is voluntary, teens have to make a strong commitment both to attend and to participate fully.

“You get to know the kids really well,” says Stacy Cutrono, an assistant whose doctoral research at UM focuses on exercise and breast cancer. The two groups, she said, were initially different in terms of their maturity, but both adapted quickly to the tenor and professionalism of the program. 

Healthy Start is vying for federal funds in its effort to reach more high school students around the county and expand its impact. Increasing student health literacy through daily fitness and team sports, hands-on laboratory experiences, field trips, and guest speakers empowers these adolescents to make better decisions related to their own personal health and well-being.

“We think of ourselves as the prevention doctors, not medicine doctors,” says Stoutenberg, emphasizing the well-touted formula that investing $1 in prevention now saves $7 in problems and rehabilitation in years to come.

Participants range from high school freshmen to seniors, and older or more engaged students are encouraged to mentor younger ones. Laura Cardoso, a sophomore at John A. Ferguson High School, attended the first session of the camp and was invited to help at the second session.

“I’m really glad to be here – it sure beats sitting at home. The camp is very hands-on and lots of fun,” Cardoso said. “It’s really opened my eyes in terms of a profession.”  

Cardoso is observing a second group of students as Erika Cantillo finishes pedaling in her group. Teens from both groups move to the dry-eraser board where they plot data on a graph. Erika’s team compares their results for heart rate with lactic concentration over stages of time against the findings of the other group.

The teens are all excited to see where the two cyclists hit their fatigue factor. They discuss with the UM doctoral assistants how the knowledge and data helps athletes understand how long they can exert themselves physically once they’re fatigued.

Erika, still on the exercise bike, can only nod her head and smile as she tries to catch her breath.   

Article written by Michael R. Malone