Wilson High Learns To 'Love Your Healthy Self'

Wilson High school in Northwest D.C. is trying to educate high school students about being healthy with a little help the television personality Dr Oz at a health fair titled "Love Your Healthy Self."

Students passed through the 15 different stalls on different health-related subjects. At the "I love my teeth" booth, they saw their favorite drinks matched with packets of the amount of sugar each contains. At the "I love setting goals" booth they tried pull-ups and and at the "I love to relax" booth, students made stress balls out of balloons and rice.

In addition to being happy to miss their usual classes, students say they learned a lot: thinks like how eating breakfast can help you burn more calories, the importance of staying hydrated, and how hard it really is to do a pull-up.

Micheline Tacco is the HealthCorps coordinator for Wilson High school, one of two positions in D.C. funded by the nonprofit foundation created by television medical personality Dr. Oz. She runs after-school dance classes, health workshops and staff wellness programs. HealthCorps purposely target high school students, she says.

"It's really the first time students are starting to make decisions for themselves about what they're going to eat, when they're going to exercise, whether they're going to exercise," she says. "They're growing so much during this time."

The hope is students can then take the healthy messages they learn into their families and the community, she adds.