HealthCorps, California Walnut Board form new partnership

The California Walnut Board's commitment to nutrition education continues through a new partnership with HealthCorps® (www.healthcorps.org), a proactive health movement founded and chaired by Dr. Mehmet Oz, host of "The Dr. Oz Show" and vice-chair and professor of surgery at Columbia University Medical Center.

HealthCorps is fighting the obesity and mental resilience crises by getting American students and communities across the country to become agents of change and help the country reach the tipping point towards wellness now and for the future of our children.

Like a Peace Corps for Health, this health movement engages recent college graduates who defer entry into medical school or graduate health programs to participate in public service through a two-year full time assignment at a designated public high school. HealthCorps also provides continuing professional development and activism opportunities to help Coordinators best serve their school communities. "Thanks to HealthCorps' teaching the importance of good nutrition, youth are learning the joys of whole food snacks, such as walnuts," states Dennis Balint, Executive Director of the California Walnut Board.

According to Michelle Bouchard, President of HealthCorps, "We are so fortunate to have the support of the California Walnut Board, an organization that is committed to America's health. With their support we are reaching more communities in California with our message to eat smart and stay physically active." The new partnership with the California Walnut Board will positively impact 1000 students and approximately 30,000 school staff, family and community members by providing for a HealthCorps Coordinator in each of the two California high schools currently involved in the program.

Emily Millen, the Health Coordinator at Canoga Park High School, teaches thirteen classes a week on nutrition, fitness and mental resilience in Los Angeles.  At Ulysses S. Grant High School in Valley Glen, Health Coordinator Cassidy Boesch carries out the HealthCorps program as a full time high school health educator, peer mentor, coach, and health activist inspiring change in the community. "I joined the HealthCorps team so that I can empower students by providing them the tools necessary to make informed decisions about their health and wellbeing," enthused Boesch.

"The California Walnut Board is committed to Dr. Oz's vision of getting American students to take charge of their health," states Balint.  Focused on three priorities, HealthCorps, with support from organizations like the California Walnut Board, educates the student body, achieves community outreach through "FitTown" – an initiative to connect and empower citizens and organizations to bring about awareness and affect change through local projects and initiatives; and advocates for policy shifts across all levels of government that put health and physical education back into the core curriculum of the American education system.

SOURCE California Walnut Board