Students
Rachel Edwards
My name is Rachel Edwards. I am sixteen years old and live in California. I had never realized how much time and care my bones truly need in order to avoid disease. Before this video I didn’t even understand what osteoporosis was. Upon discovering the effects of the disease, I needed to know if I was at risk. I had found out I was, and at very high risk. Both of my grandmothers face broken hips from osteoporosis and my mother is already beginning to feel pain in her hips. Knowing this I push myself to develop the healthiest bones I can.
Jilian Porath
My name is Jilian Porath. I have always been a relatively healthy person. I grew up being a competitive dancer and my family eats as healthy as possible. When I was offered to work on this bone health video project I was thrilled. I got to learn just how important it is to have healthy bones and that your adult bone health depends on the choices I make now as a teenager. The videos we filmed showcased our personalities and our individual connections to bone health. Through our videos we are able to teach others and hopefully make difference to the bone health community.
Nataly Diaz
I chose to do this project for two reasons. One was because I am interested in pursuing a health career in the future. Second was because I have been looking for an opportunity to reach out to the community in a healthy positive way and when I heard about this offer I was immediately interested. I feel like the community needs to know that they are all at risk and if they see teens getting into the act of getting the word out about something thatb is so important they don’t don’t know about yet.
Charlene Stephens
My name is Charlene Stephens. I live in San Diego, California and attend High Tech High North County. I had never even heard of Osteoporosis before this video, let alone understand the risk I face for getting Osteoporosis. I don’t have a family history of Osteoporosis. Even if you don’t have a family history, you are still at risk. When working on this video, I learned a lot about the types of habits and foods I should eat in order to prevent Osteoporosis and to improve my chances of living a longer life. I want to be able to stick to those habits and to encourage others to embrace these habits to overcome the risk of getting Osteoporosis.
Madalyn Matosian
My name is Madalyn Matosian, I’m sixteen years old and a junior at High Tech High North County. Before making this video, I had a very borderline understanding of the importance in maintaining healthy bones. Osteoporosis was among the many diseases of which I had no problem pushing to the back of my mind. Whilst I grew in my knowledge of this disease, the most important thing I learned was what I do now as a teenager determines my longevity throughout my years as an adult regarding to bone health. I know now that what I spend my time doing now is important and that building strong bones is a process, and not something to procrastinate. My family suffers many illnesses, cancer included and although osteoporosis is a very different disease, I hope being aware of it will help my awareness for other illnesses I may be at risk for. I have to take into account my health so I don’t end up leaving myself with a future wishing that I could have been healthier in the past.
Sasha
My name is Sasha Mazon. I am 17 years old. Before doing this video, I didn’t care much at all about my bones. I knew very little about osteoporosis. I definitely didn’t think that I would be at risk of getting it. After learning about this I asked my family if we had a history of diseases. It turns out that my grandmother had osteoporosis. I realized that I had a really close chance of getting this disease. Now that I am informed about osteoporosis and how to prevent it, I am living a much better life by eating healthier and exercising more.
Interns
Xochitl Aguinaga
My name is Xochitl Aguinaga. I am a twelfth grade student at High Tech High North County, my role in the 4BoneHealth Video project was to assist as an intern, documenting the project in photographs. Before starting this project the threat of Osteoporosis was completely off my radar. I thought I had a healthy diet, but after starting this project I soon realized I was not eating enough food to begin with and even more so that my diet lacked vitamin D and Calcium–two diet components essential for healthy bones! Participating in this grass-roots effort to spread awareness about Osteoporosis has instilled in me the lifelong goal to take care of my body NOW starting with the foundation of my body.
Lisa Jackson
As a student focused on Film Production and Women’s Studies at California State University, San Marcos; I welcomed the opportunity to be part of the 4BoneHealth Teen Project. I was eager to be part of a project that empowered young women to not only make their health a priority but also to create videos from the learned information to share with their peers. Being part of the project was a wonderful experience as the students were a delight to work with and working one on one with Professor Diekman was inspiring. I am looking forward to applying all I garnered from her into my next project. Additionally, I gained valuable information in regards to osteoporosis prevention for myself. Although I am past the age in which the majority of my bone mass is develop, I learned that they are still steps I can take to preserve my current bone mass. I have jazzed up my diet to include a broader rage of leafy greens, spinach/kale smoothies have replaced my morning coffee, I now take vitamin D supplements, and I have added yogurt fortified with vitamin D to my snack rotation. Plus added bonus, I found out my evening walks are a great way to get in weight bearing activity for the benefit of my bones. I enjoyed working on this project immensely. Till next time, bone-voyage
Victor Sandoval
My name is Victor Sandoval and I am currently a senior at Cal State University San Marcos. I took an internship that allowed me to assist professors with anything having to do with video. Kristine Diekman asked me to be involved with this project and I gladly accepted. I was there for technical assistance but I also learned a great deal about bone health. I have broken my right arm in three separate occasions. At the time I just thought I had bad luck, but now I realize it was because my family did not have the right information on nutrition and exercise that would lead to healthy bones. I will take what I learned in the making of this project and apply it to my life as well as my younger family members.
Faculty
Mr. Matt Leader
For the past ten years Matt has worked as a biology teacher with High Tech High North County and graduate studies instructor with the High Tech organization. Always looking for the next meaningful project to implement with his 11th grade students, he heard about and was connected with the work of Dr. Diane Schneider and Professor Kristine Diekman. This collaboration transformed the curriculum that the students would see in all of their classes (Biology, Humanities, Math and Spanish) and culminated into a semester long integrated health project that has touched the entire school community. The experience has now expanded into an ongoing adolescent health project that has taken many forms. The students have reached out and presented work to over 1200 visitors and other students. It now has implications on how students look at healthy choices, teachers plan curriculum and how the administration at High Tech organization designs physical education and nutrition programs.
Professor Kristine Diekman & Dr. Diane Schneider
In Spring 2013, Dr. Diane Schneider, bone health expert, and Professor Kristine Diekman, Director of Video in the Community, fortuitously met, and their collaboration to work with youth and bone health was launched. Through seed funding from the National Cheers Foundation, additional Video in the Community funding, private donors to 4BoneHealth, and resource support from California State University, San Marcos, they worked with the group listed above at High Tech High in North County San Diego to teach youth about bone health and video production. The production of seven short videos took 12 weeks of brainstorming, writing, performing, shooting and editing by the team. Keeping in mind that the content should be developed, produced and distributed by youth, the final videos contain important bone health facts and are being used to launch the social media campaign #bonebreakday.