Early Success With Teen Health Advisors at School

The idea had worked in other parts of the country. A team of teenagers would become a “youth advisory council” at a high school. They’d advise school health officials, promote school health resources and develop their own projects to improve health.

Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s school-based health team wanted to launch a small pilot version in the 2022-2023 academic year – roll the concept out in two central Ohio schools, maybe five students per school.

They didn’t know it would be such a hit.

By the spring of 2023 there were five schools with councils as large as 15 students. Other central Ohio schools are looking to start their own councils.

Perhaps most importantly, there are signs that the council members have better attendance, grades and behavior than they did before the councils began. That’s in addition to the councils’ main goal of improving student health.

“It’s been really eye-opening,” said Tifini Ray, manager of engagement and evaluation on Nationwide Children’s school-based health team. “We were very intentional about not setting any requirements for school attendance or grade point average, because we wanted every student to have a chance at being involved. Now that they are experiencing “good attention” for their great work, we’re starting to see a difference in how they perform at school.”

Nationwide Children’s vast school-based health program now has primary care centers in 16 areas schools, along with mobile care units, school-based asthma treatment initiatives and a variety of other efforts to improve student health. It’s the largest program of its kind in the United States. The team communicates about all this at the district, school and student level.

But students accept those resources and communications better when they come from students themselves, says Ray. Nationwide Children’s school health liaisons presented the youth advisory council idea to staff and students at four Columbus City schools starting in October 2022: South High School, West High School, Northland High School and Linden McKinley STEM Academy.

Ultimately, the Northland council was so enthusiastic that it presented the concept to Columbus KIPP Academy itself.

A few eager students recruited others, and youth advisory council members essentially become ambassadors for health in their schools with guidance from the Nationwide Children’s school health team. Ray said that a number of students who were not typically in student leadership positions gravitated to the councils, in part because the saw the impact the councils could make on their peers.

The individual school councils met once a week, then councils from all of the schools met once per quarter. Among other activities, the students conducted surveys that helped inform school-based health services and suggested needs that the students could help address with their peers. Four of the councils found that their schoolmates were struggling most with mental health issues; one found that issues surrounding teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections were top-of-mind.

Initial projects focused on bringing education about those subjects into school and creating soothing “wellness spaces” inside school buildings.

Some students found themselves motivated in ways they hadn’t felt before, and praised for the improvements they were making at school instead of being criticized for mistakes they were making, said Ray.

Ray’s team is still analyzing data from the school year, but anecdotally, school achievement rose for many of the student members of the councils. Ray plans on continuing the councils in the five schools that began them this school year and would like to expand in the future.

“It’s been really cool on the Nationwide Children’s side to be more involved in ‘school’ parts of school, while we’re still focused on caring for students through our health services,” said Ray. “We’ve left our you advisory councils very open, adult-guided but youth-driven, and we’re seeing the results.”