CMSD Screenings

Being a "senior leader" for the CMSD height, weight and BMI screenings has been a completely different experience from participating in the screenings as a junior. I was completely unaware of all the work that goes into pre and post screening and all of the data management that is required to ensure the data is accurate. It has been an interesting experience screening all of the 70+ schools in CMSD and seeing the environmental differences and the behavioral differences in the children among different schools. At some screenings, the senior leaders just oversee everything and make sure everything is running smoothly, and some days the seven of us will go do screenings on our own, which seems to be way less chaotic. For the most part the screenings run pretty smoothly, although we have encountered many problems and obstacles along the way. Things as simple as improperly uploading the ipads for schools or having all the wrong paperwork for your school and having nothing to work with. We all have learned from our mistakes and we were able to problem solve and figure something out when we do run into technical issues.
It has also been a different experience dealing with the kindergarten and third grade students this year. I think because we screen so often and have dealt with so many children, I've noticed myself becoming a lot more comfortable around kids and am learning how to interact appropriately with them. Being an only child and the youngest cousin on either side of the family, I never really had to learn how to deal with young kids until nursing school. Even in my pediatric rotation I just could not seem to grasp how to interact with certain age groups. It is interesting that I have become so much more comfortable with children throughout this experience and it is one of the main things that I think I will take away from this capstone.