While most are tucked in bed and fast asleep on late starts, a handful of Bowie students are waking up at the crack of dawn and getting an early jump start to the day. Instead of spending their late starts enjoying a stack of pancakes at a local restaurant and sleeping in, Carolina Govea, along with a few others, trade out a few extra hours of sleep for rush hour traffic  in order to get to Dawson Elementary School before the sun is up.

At the beginning of the 2017 school year, Carolina Govea, a Junior at the time, got involved with the ‘Health through Science’ program here at Bowie. Govea created the club in an effort to give High School students the opportunity to bring a fun learning environment to Dawson Elementary School. Meeting once a month, Govea and about fifteen other Bowie students, head to Dawson to help fifth graders with a health related science fair project.

“Health through Science was started at Bowie last year after a student heard about the program from LASA students,” Health through Science Senior President Carolina Govea said. “It gives High Schoolers the opportunity do make an impact on younger students.”

Once a month High School students will go to an Elementary School with few resources, also known as a title one school, in order to bring the students new opportunities and experiences they may not have access to otherwise.

“The past two year Bowie has been paired with Dawson Elementary School,” Govea said. “It’s been awesome to see how much the kids grow from the beginning of the school year to the end.”  

Each visit Bowie students teach the fourth or fifth grade class they are paired with something new, but they always keep one end goal in mind.

“Each time we visit we introduce a new topic to the students related to STEM, healthy living, and career opportunities,” Govea said. “We then break off into our small groups and work on the healthy living science fair project the kids chose at the beginning of the year.”

Having something to work towards makes it that much more worth it for High Schoolers helping out.

“My hope is that by the end of the year we will have a really awesome science fair project and that the kids will be proud of all the work they put into it,” Senior Health through Science member Hannah Hall said. “I think that would make it all worthwhile.”

But, despite all the fun Health through Science brings, it doesn’t happen without the hard work and dedication of students and the Health through Science president.

“As president I deal with more than just the school visits since the organization also focuses a lot on volunteering,” Govea said. “I have to give ideas to the main officers at Lasa and communicate back and forth with the elementary school and making sure everyone’s in the know about what we are doing.

Thankfully, Goveas dedication doesn’t go unnoticed.

“Carolina is an example of a great leader, she sets up certain tasks for us to complete each time we go to the elementary school and gets very involved in what each group is doing.” Hall said. “She does a great job communicating with everyone and making sure were all included, overall she’s just a great president.”

The club is in its second year at Bowie, but students and teachers are already seeing its benefits.

“This program benefits Bowie students by allowing them to work in a low-income school within our community and gain leadership skills, build relationships with children, and improve public speaking skills,” Health through Science sponsor Kelly Langdon said.  “It’s a win-win for everyone involved.”

Since many of the programs volunteers are graduation next year it’s important that other Bowie students get involved.

“If anyone’s thinking about joining they should know it does require a lot of commitment but  it’s so beneficial for both the elementary school students and you in the long run, it really does help build your character,” Govea said.

All in all Health through Science has brought a ton of benefits to the community, and will continue to do so for years to come.

“[Health through Science] gives younger students an outlet to find inspiration, and allows older students to do something beneficial with their time,” Govea said. “It’s just such a rewarding experience for everyone.”