Using Teens as Teachers to Address Healthy Living Changes in Youth View Digital Media

Workshop Presentation
Vanessa Spero,  Noelle Guay,  Kimber Sarver,  Laura E Valencia,  Andrea Lazzari,  Beth Shephard  

With obesity on the rise amongst youth in the United States, it is important to find innovative ways to introduce healthy living concepts to youth. The University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Extension 4-H Program utilizes an approach called Teens as Teachers. Research indicates that when youth are involved in teaching, they take on the role as a positive role model for their students and youth report being more physically active and eating a healthier diet (Smith, 2014). Teens as Teachers also learn valuable life skills such as leadership, communication, decision making, and responsibility. Furthermore, utilizing teens as role models brings fresh ideas, current trends, and a more relatable teacher (Ripberger & Blalock, 2011). In order to successfully implement Teens as Teachers programs, there are essential best practices that must be followed: recruitment, training, effective curriculum, evaluation, reward system. UF/IFAS has been implementing this model for ten years and will share the most effective ways to utilize teens in programming in this interactive session.