Last Days in CMSD

My time with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District has gone by so fast.  At the conclusion of the semester we successfully screened around 60 schools and approximately 5,000 students.  Looking at these numbers makes me realize how much we accomplished this year in the schools.  Although we were just taking height and weight in kindergarten's and third graders we strengthened our relationship with the Cleveland Schools and showed loyalty to the students, faculty and staff.  It felt so good to be a bright light to the CMSD especially at there time of struggle and hopelessness. 
            As the semester continued and we checked schools off of our list we realized that in order to be able to accomplish our overall goal of screening all of the schools in the district we needed more man power.  Erin Whitehouse, the project manager of the Prentis Grant, communicated with the Ursuline School of Nursing.  We paired up with student nurses from Ursuline and screened eight schools together on two different Tuesday's.  It was great to have more man power to accomplish all we had to do in the schools. 
       For me it was exciting to be working with another nursing school in order to accomplish a huge goal that we as a group set at the beginning of our project.  We got to teach the protocol that we had utilized through the semester and test the nursing students off so that they can properly screen for height and weight and know how to input the information correctly into the iPad. The students were very receptive to our project and put forth a huge effort at the schools. At the end of our 300 hours the Ursuline nursing students will continue to screen the remaining schools, and eventually accomplish our ultimate goal.
        Starting out this senior capstone project, i did not really think i was going to get as much as i did out of it.  I have enjoyed my times in the schools and getting the chance to make a difference in the lives of the children in CMSD.  I can only hope that the screenings we have done and the reformatted parent notification letter we have created, will help to decrease the rates of obesity in CMSD and ultimately give children a healthier way of life.