SPHHS Educates Young Learners at Pre-College @ UMass Amherst
Three members of the SPHHS community spent part of their summer educating high school students at Pre-College at UMass.
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A single question acted as the catalyst to a perspective-altering experience for high school students.
“What happens when we stop treating weight as just a number and start exploring the full story behind it?”
Nutrition doctoral candidate Esi Quaidoo crafted her course, Anthropometrics, Body Image & Nutrition, to give the next generation of learners a space to study the science of body measurement, as well as an opportunity to reflect on how things like societal norms and media messaging alter our perceptions of health.
“I’ve seen how easily weight gets oversimplified in both clinical and public health settings,” Quaidoo said. “I wanted students to leave this course with both the technical skills and the critical lens to ask better questions.”
This was her first time teaching in the annual Pre-College @ UMass Amherst residential program, providing courses in more than 25 topics for rising 10th-12th graders. Quaidoo led her cohort through lectures on the basics of nutrition and asked them to conduct measurements, gather data, and work in groups on research projects. Everything culminated with a group presentation that showcased the research they had done.
“They each chose such creative ways to communicate what they’d learned,” Quaidoo said, noting the use of mock social media campaigns and visual data stories. “What stood out most wasn’t just the quality of their work, but how personally invested they were.”
Students shared their thoughts after the two-week course. Their feedback speaks to how Quaidoo helped view body image in a new way.
“For me, the best part of this course was probably learning about how social media and body image are related and being able to explore and discuss common societal beliefs and how they relate back to nutrition and anthropometrics,” one high schooler shared.
“I felt like a professional nutritionist having to calculate their TEE, RMR, and BMI, followed by choosing suitable medical nutrition therapy options,” added another.
Two kinesiology educators also stayed busy this summer. Senior lecturers Judi LaBranche and Tom St. Laurent are no strangers to the program. LaBranche has seen her class grow and change from when it started more than a decade ago.
“The interest has been steadily growing from 5 students to 50,” she said. “The content is based on what the students are interested in and the expertise of the instructors. So far, no two years have been the same.”
LaBranche’s course, titled Kinesiology: Pathway to Medical Professions, included hands-on lessons focused on different elements of kinesiology, like developing personalized fitness plans and gaining knowledge of muscles and bones. Ultimately, LaBranche demonstrated how studying the discipline could support them in medical and health sciences careers that positively impact others.
“Most impactful is when a student connected a concept with something in real life. It was a moment when they knew they could do more for their future,” LaBranche said. “In addition, our international students were amazing.”
Students seeking a sports-centered course got exactly what they asked for with St. Laurent’s Sports Performance class. Not only did participants break a sweat while learning advanced training methods, but St. Laurent also showed them insights about the science behind their performance with a deep dive into sports data analytics.
And for all of the knowledge Pre-College @ UMass Amherst offers its students, lecturers left learning valuable life lessons too.
“It meant a lot to see students not just absorb the content but apply it, question it, and, in some cases, reshape their own perspectives,” Quaidoo said. “That’s when you know you’ve done more than just teach; you’ve helped spark a shift in how they see their future roles.”