Physical activity offers a broad range of benefits, including the prevention of obesity, improved self confidence, and an overall sense of well-being. Physical education programs within the school setting can set the stage for how children view physical fitness, activity levels, and future health. Physical education programs also include general health and safety information in addition to providing opportunities for students to learn how to cooperate with one another in a team setting.

A Lifetime of Health

The school setting provides a structured atmosphere in which to incorporate physical health activities and ideally develop healthy habits for life. Studies indicate that promotion of a healthy lifestyle taught in physical education classes can influence long-term health benefits such as reduced rates of obesity, heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

Perhaps just as importantly, physical education programs can teach students that physical activity can be fun. With a broad range of games and activities, children are exposed to forms of exercise that don’t simply involve running around a track. Games and other activities incorporate teamwork, strategy, skill-building exercises, and fun.

Nutritional Information

Physical education classes are ideal for introducing basic nutritional concepts to children. Poor eating habits are common among many children and adolescents; however, a solid foundation in healthy eating choices can help lay the groundwork for improved food choices. Children who eat regular, healthy meals consisting of a wide range of food choices concentrate better in school and are less disruptive. Healthy eating also decreases the chances of children developing serious health problems early in life and reduces obesity rates among youth and into adulthood.

Life Skills

Physical education also provides an opportunity for children to develop critical life skills, such as problem solving, strategy, and working together. Many team sports require participants to work together to achieve a goal. Children also learn the basics of good sportsmanship and that there is much more to sports and physical activities than simply winning or losing. Sports require training, mental and physical preparation, and help build self-confidence.

Mental Health

Regular physical activity has shown to have many psychological and mental benefits in addition to the physical ones. For example, regular exercise can reduce feelings of depression and anxiety and promote an overall sense of well-being. The increased blood flow during exercise transports oxygen to all parts of the body, including the brain, which can help improve memory and reasoning skills. Conversely, a lack of oxygen, which can result from not enough deep breathing, can lead to disorientation, confusion, fatigue, and memory and concentration difficulties.

By: Steve Bishop

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Going into a nursing program to pursue nursing as a career is very beneficial. You can expect to not only obtain a valuable career but also have the money to pay for your education. There is currently a tremendous shortage of nurses all across the country and unfortunately it is only expected to get worse. To encourage people to pursue the field of nursing there are numerous federal, state and private funds available in the form of grants and scholarships to help people fund a nursing education. What’s great is that grants and scholarships do not have to be repaid so it’s basically free money to become a nurse!

There are many grants and scholarships available to cover the cost of an education for a nursing school program from the federal government. No matter if you are seeking a two year associates degree or you have chosen to complete a four year degree there is money available. In an effort to create more qualified nurses to deal with the vast nursing shortage the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has created a variety of grants and scholarships that are specifically for nursing students. Many of these scholarships and grants supplement the Federal Pell and the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant. One of the main federal scholarship and grant programs for nursing students includes the Nursing Scholarship Program which provides funds for college with no repayment under the stipulation that the student agrees to work as a full time nurse in an underserved area. This particular program also provides assistance with living expenses. On a federal level there is a vast amount of money available to assist with paying for nursing school.

Likewise, state governments are also assisting by providing their own supplemental aid for the nursing school programs. With the combination of both federal and state aid many nursing students can afford school. Most of the state grants and scholarships do come with a promise made by the receiver of an award to work in the state for a certain period of time. If you are willing to do this than lots of state money could be available to pay for not only tuition and fees but living expenses and nursing supplies for school as well.

For those needing additional money for school there are private and professional organizations that offer scholarships. Some of these scholarships may be targeted towards particular groups such as certain ethnic or racial groups, men or women returning to school to become a nurse or for those students of a particular age. In addition, many graduate nursing students can obtain applications for scholarships from professional nursing organizations that will offer money to a student who is willing to complete a graduate degree for a particular specialty such as cancer or acute care.

Finding the scholarships and grants to pay for a nursing school program is feasible and the amount of funds available to assist you is abundant.

By: Melanie Ullman

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Located in Lubbock, Texas, the Covenant Health System member Covenant School of Nursing (CSN), formerly called the Methodist Hospital School of Nursing, is the oldest school of registered nursing on the South Plains, a Board of Nurse Examiners for the State of Texas and NLNAC-accredited diploma program that prepares nursing students for licensure as qualified registered nursing graduates.

The Covenant School of Nursing program provides their students with meaningful training experiences in the classroom, lab, as well as in the formal clinical setting. The nursing school is dedicated in offering a full-time 76-week hospital-based diploma-nursing program that prepares their students for licensure as a Registered Nurse (RN) after completing 9specific prerequisite college courses, as well as giving 12-month Advanced Credit program to Licensed Vocational Nurses (LVN) and Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN) for opportunities to complete their registered nursing education. This Advanced Credit program for LVN/LPN’s 12-month curriculum consists of 100-hours, a summer part-time Transition Course (classroom and laboratory experiences summarizing Level-1 course topics) followed by 38weeks of Level-II courses.

The Covenant School of Nursing is devoted in placing their curriculum in a supportive learning environment that makes nursing school a positive and nurturing experience that is also fun for the students. The registered nursing program consists of classroom, clinical skills labs, plus clinical field experiences at some 20different healthcare facilities in the Texas Lubbock area. Through the clinical field-work, the students are able to deal directly with patients hence developing their “hands-on” skills after only 2-months training and 2-days+ weekly exposure in clinical settings for 2-years.

Nurses aspiring for admission to the courses mentioned will find that the Covenant School of Nursing is an Equal-Access/Equal-Opportunity School that does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, or disability, while also offering financial assistance such as Federal Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), Federal Stafford and Federal PLUS loan programs, Covenant Health System’s HealthTraxx, as well as other aids including Scholarships (available during the second half of the student’s junior year), Discounted meals for the hospital cafeteria, the Possibility of part-time work, and Limited healthcare services for the deserving CSN students.

Nursing students must be able to attend, fully participate, and successfully complete all classroom, lab and clinical components of each of the required RN nursing courses in order to graduate from Covenant School of Nursing. The CSN graduates then become fully-eligible to apply for the National Council Licensure Examination-RN (NCLEX-RN). Then one year after graduation, the graduates and their employers are surveyed and evaluated to indicate the high degree of graduate-and-employer satisfaction with the CSN graduate’s ability to meet objectives and perform as a proficient nurse in the workplace.

By: Milos Pesic

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