Public health students, faculty help bring smiles to Grand Rapids schools

Tyler McKee, a first-year Master of Public Health student in the College of Health Professions, squatted down the end of two short tables where eight kindergarteners, looking a little nervous and antsy, squirmed in tiny classroom seats.

“Hello, friends! I’m Mr. Tyler. But you can call me Tyler,” said McKee in a bright, welcoming tone. “Do you like puzzles?”

With that the boys and girls from Stocking Elementary transformed from nervous to excited. A few replied “yes,” others’ eyes lit up as they nodded.

McKee was one of about 20 MPH students at Stocking on Tuesday as part of the Colgate Bright Smiles, Bright Futures program in partnership with Grand Valley and Grand Rapids Public Schools.

The event, which continues with visits to three more GRPS elementary schools this week, combines dental screenings by local dentist offices with kid-friendly activities built around the eight dimensions of wellness.

Ranelle Brew, professor and director of the Master of Public Health program, said the outreach creates opportunities for Grand Valley students to get experience working with children to teach different aspects of wellness while providing wellness lessons and preventative screening to the children.

“This is an underserved population that is sometimes not readily accessing services like dental care,” Brew said.

Dr. Stephanie Benton, a dentist with Smiley Family Dentistry in Grand Rapids, was working alongside Mary Pearson, a retired dental hygienist, in the Colgate Bright Smiles Bright Futures mobile dental unit outside of the school along with several MPH students.

“A lot of these kids don’t have great access to dental care,” Benton said. “Hopefully these screenings will help nudge parents to get their children the care they need and educate these kids about the importance of dental hygiene.”

For the MPH students, the program was a chance to get needed experience and give back to the community.

McKee’s activity was using shapes to form patterns and pictures as an intellectual wellness activity. Kiersten Duiven, a second-year master’s student, was working one table over on a spiritual wellness activity that asked children to color a gratitude jar and fill it with things they were grateful for.

One girl drew her dog and candy inside her jar – Halloween is approaching, afterall. Another boy drew a pink flower.

“This was a great opportunity to be involved and to meet my cohort,” said Duiven, of Middleville. “I think there’s great value in instilling thinking about wellness when they are young. If you do this now, you can change the future.”

Across the table, Judith Eguzoikpe, a second year MPH student from Nigeria, guided children to connect uncooked spaghetti with mini marshmallows to form shapes, illustrating social wellness through creative expression. (At times, the biggest challenge might have been convincing the kindergarteners not to eat the marshmallows.)

“This puts their minds into a mode of doing creative things,” Eguzoikpe said.

Nearby Braelyn Roach, a Grand Valley special education major who is a student teacher in kindergarten at Stocking this semester, watched her class and her fellow Lakers engage in the health education activities.

She said it was fun to see another group of students at Grand Valley who she wouldn’t normally have a chance to interact with. “Plus, it’s really nice to see the kids working nicely together,” Roach said. “They get a little stir crazy, so this is a nice change of pace.”