Encouraging Healthy Lifestyles Through Education
A program sponsored by Trustmark Companies and Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital

How might an extra $1,000 have an "Impact" on the health of your students?

Through the Impact Educator Grant Program, classroom programs in Lake County, Illinois, can receive up to $1,000 for promoting healthy lifestyles through innovative educational programs.

As a health insurance carrier, benefits administrator, and health and ftness management company, Trustmark supports health education programs such as Impact. We created Impact because we know how important it is to reach kids at an early age and instill healthy lifestyle habits. What better place to learn than at school?

Application period for 2012 Impact Educator Grants is now closed. Lake County, Ill., teachers and principals are invited to apply for a 2013 Impact Educator Grant starting in September 2012.

The Impact program is available to all Lake County, Illinois, educators -- kindergarten through high school. Headquartered in Lake Forest, Ill., Trustmark has a long history of supporting the local communities it serves.

For more information about the Impact program, download the Impact brochure (PDF).

You Are What You Eat
“We created a grocery store in our classroom. Students began by building a shopping list that would provide one day's nutritional needs. They then stacked aisles with food according to food groups. Each student role-played a job needed to run a grocery store: store manager, stockers, cashiers, baggers and shoppers. 'Shoppers' used the shopping list as a guide to buying healthy foods. Later, we took a field trip to the Jewel in our neighborhood to experience firsthand how a grocery store really works.”

Sharon McDaniel, Kindergarten teacher
Greenwood Elementary School
Waukegan, Ill.

Camp Duncan, Here We Come!
"Students spent the day at YMCA Camp Duncan and chose to participate in three activities from among: climbing wall, candle making, outdoor living skills, team-building course and games, and a star lab. All activities were 45 miutes long and allowed students to spend the entire day outdoors using materials fom nature. This was our first time to receive a Impact Eductor Grant.”

Amy Taucher, 6th grade teacher
Round Lake Middle School
Round Lake, Ill.

Fitness Circuit Fun
“Students in third-through-fifth grade rotated through a fitness circuit, following 'hot spot' strength and flexibility exercises using stability and medicine balls, steps, jump ropes, and resistance bands and tubing. They also took part in aerobic bowling and started to learn to play tchouckball, which increases cardiovascular endurance. This was the first time I offered a fitness circuit because I didn't previously have the equipment to be successful. We thank you so much for your generous grant, for wthout your funding the Glen Flora Fitness Fun Center could not have happened.”

Agnes Clifford, Physical Education teacher
Glen Flora Elementary School
Waukegan, Ill.

The Sobering Effects of Drug Use “My seventh and eighth grade students had the opportunity to learn about the harmful effects of alcohol and tobacco. According to local police, alcohol use among teens in our area is on the rise. Students examined 'pickled liver,' 'affected brain' and 'healthy versus damaged lung' models to represent what alcohol, drug abuse and smoking can do to these organs, played games to demonstrate the effect of impairment on multitasking such as speaking and thinking clearly while given a task, and had hands-on interaction with displays showing stages of improved health after quitting smoking. Students were enthusiastic to come to class each day, were fascinated with the materials and gained a greater understanding of what smoking and alcohol can do to the human body. This program further enhances our drug education curriculum and we plan to show off class materials at an upcoming health fair.”

Ben Leven, Health teacher
Twin Groves Middle School
Buffalo Grove, Ill.