On October 6th, our new group of Teen Health Educators gathered for their first training session! After having to train our last group of applicants virtually, we’re so excited to be able to get this new group safely together, in person, to make the most of the training and team-building.

Our time began with playing People Bingo, talking to each other to find different people who fit the description in each square. The first person to make a straight across, down, or diagonal won! This encouraged our Teen Health Educators to get to know more about each other.

We also took part in a group team building activity. Each team member was asked to identify one item that represented something they enjoyed or was personal to them, on vacation. Then disaster struck! The team were shipwrecked on a desert island, formed into groups, and asked to come up with ingenious ways to increase their chances of survival using only the items they had brought as a group. It’s a good job some of them brought their own siblings, though there were some questionable uses of pets…

We also talked through the expectations of what being a good Teen Health Educator involves. The program includes the training, ongoing monthly meetings (for further training and team-building) and a minimum community service commitment. In terms of personal expectations, reliability, professionalism, and communication are at the core of ensuring the success of our Teen Health Educators Program.

We also reminded them of all the vital things they will receive as part of being a Teen Health Educator, including: 

• Useful knowledge to share with their peers. 
• Skills to confidently educate their peers. 
• Getting comfortable with public speaking in front of large and small groups.
• Valuable leadership and team-work skills.
• Gain what you put in!

What inspired us about this group is that so many of them were feeling pretty nervous about any form of public speaking, and yet had a strong desire to serve their peers and wider community in this way – many of them had even suffered through some of the issues that we deal with, and wanted to do their part to ensure others were supported in a similar situation. We are really blessed to be able to support these incredible young people and invest in their development.

With special thanks to the New College of Florida for generously donating the amazing classroom space for our entire training series!

Connect with us: 

Instagram: @healthyteensmanatee

Facebook: Healthy Teens Coalition of Manatee County, Inc.