Reflection 1

What interests me most about adolescent health promotion is the opportunity to be a source of encouragement and support for adolescents. To be able to help show adolescents the wide array of opportunities that are available to them. Through mentoring high school students and coaching young people as a swim coach, I began to realize that I truly enjoyed the connection I had with many of them. I wasn't just their coach or mentor, but it gave me the opportunity to sit and talk with them-getting them to open up and share their experiences and the things they know and go through. Health promotion for me is more than just teaching adolescents about safe sex, healthy eating, staying in school and being physically active-it's about helping them to become empowered to be the change they want to see in themselves, so that they too can be examples and leaders of change. It is about working towards not just having a healthy body, but the total package-mind, body and soul. This course will help me in the long run by helping me not just only to better understand the issues that are important to adolescents, but also figuring out different approaches that can be used, and how to tailor interventions and programs to fit those needs.I am excited and nervous at the same time to actually work in the area of health promotion with adolescents, it has been something I have wanted to do for a very long time. I've read many articles, had many class discussions in which we have brainstormed and come up with many different kinds of ideas that could work. But now I will actually get the chance to get to try and apply the techniques I have learned about and I can't wait.

T.Gray