Health Fair brings science to life
By Kate Daly Contributing Writer

Trying a yoga technique during the Gibbons Middle School Seventh-Grade Health Fair are, from top, Carly Gavin, Erin Genderin, Amy Lightbody and Jody Schier. PHOTO/KATE DALY

Westborough - Early in February, some students in the Gibbons Middle School library lay on the floor, their feet resting on the seats of chairs as part of a yoga exercise. In one classroom, students snacked on popcorn and fruit. In another, a student modeled a plastic facemask and lab gown.

It was all part of a seventh-grade health fair devised by teachers on the Catalyst team, including science teacher Lisa Greenwald, team leader Mark Kennedy, Barbara Mitchell and Jeanine Weiss. Presenters included a yoga teacher, a veterinarian and a medical technologist, among others.

"I wanted them to see diff erent aspects of health and wellness," Greenwald said. "You've got to relate it to their lives."

Sometimes, Greenwald said, it helps students to hear it from someone other than their teacher, so she put out a call to parents for volunteers. As a result, Dr. Dick Duckett, a local veterinarian, talked with students about rabies, Lyme disease and other animal illnesses; Kalpita Patel explained the complexities of disease from a medical technologist's point of view; teacher Barbara Dickman not only talked about healthy snacks, but also off ered them in her presentation; and Michelle Gross led the students through Svaroopa yoga exercises that they could use to relax.

The health fair was the culmination of a unit on viruses, bacteria and disease. As part of the project, students researched a viral or bacterial illness, wrote a brochure describing the illness, its treatment and prognosis, and produced the brochures on Microsoft Publisher.