East Farms students learn about keeping brain active
Kids should invite elderly relatives to tour a garden or listen to music together as ways to help the brain stay active, an elder- care advocate told students on Wednesday.
Two East Farms Elementary classes learned about the brain and how to keep it healthy from a talk by Kathy Ward, who has worked in the gerontology field for 13 years and is an author, recreational therapist and psychologist. Ward also is president of World Elder Land, a nonprofit organization seeking better quality of life for elders. She came to Spokane six months ago as a Universal Peace Ambassador.
Ward met East Farms teacher Linda Bauer through a mutual friend and was invited to speak to Bauer’s fourth-fifth grade combination class, as well as in teacher George Gessler‘s fourth-grade classroom as part of Brain Awareness Week, March 10 through 17.
“When we deal with elders, many think oh, my brain doesn’t work anymore, but I came to the conclusion there are many ways we can rehabilitate the brain,” Ward said before her talk.
She added that when people have Alzheimer’s disease, tools such as MRIs can show where brain activity in certain parts of the brain is still working.
“You can determine which parts of the brain are still doing their job and which parts aren’t. By doing that it’s like physical therapy, which muscles work and which ones don’t and there are interventions, activities that tell us ways we can work with the part of the brain that is damaged, have them do an activity and then measure progress and rehabilitate.”
Ward sees opportunities to teach students and others how to keep the brain healthy long before and after retirement years.
“There are things you can do to prevent the deterioration of the brain, to nurture the brain.”
Ward told students about all the parts of the brain and the roles they play: for speech, memory, motion, emotions, reasoning and decision-making, among many functions. She also described the importance of neurons – how information is passed in the brain – and that the frontal lobe for higher reasoning and goal-directed behavior begins developing more fully around age 12.
To help the children better understand why some elderly people lose their memories, Ward talked about dementia and Alzheimer’s. She also described some steps to keep the brain healthy: learning new things, regularly drinking water, hands-on and creative activity and physical activity.
“How can you create new neurons? By learning new things, by stimulating the brain. That’s why it’s so important to use all parts of the brain. If you decide to lie on the couch all day, what will happen to you? Over time, the brain shrinks if you don’t use it.
“If you’re visiting grandparents, see if you can do an activity with them. Say to grandma, let’s look at the garden, listen to music, go for a walk.”
CVHS students qualify for state FBLA competition
Twenty-three Central Valley High School students competed at the Future Business Leaders of America Northeast Region Business Conference in Spokane. Nineteen members of CVHS chapter earned top honors and qualified for the April 5 through 7 state competition in Spokane.
Those students recognized were: Future Business Leader – Andrea Avenger, first; Accounting I – Grant Beschta, third; Networking Concepts – Tony Kanago, second, Will Bernbaum, fourth; Network Design – Team of Pete Knowlton, Tony Kanago, first; Marketing – Gavin Johnson, fifth; Job Interview – Knowlton, first; Banking and Financial Systems – Mikala Locnikar, fourth; Alicia Bird, fifth; Business Calculations – Beschta, first; Computer Applications – Kayela Arrotta, second, Will Bernbaum, first; Word Processing II – Will Bernbaum, fifth; Business Ethics – Team of Chelsea Hackney and Nic Morden, fifth; Business Procedures – Breahna Bacheller, first, Ben Thew, third, Aimee Goold, fourth, Anna Highley, fifth; Technology Concepts – Will Bernbaum, fourth; Desktop Publishing – Team of Locnikar, Gavin Johnson, first; Public Speaking I – Adam Bernbaum, third; Introduction to Business – Matt Kougl, fifth; Introduction to Technology Concepts – Dallan Wagner, third; Global Business – Johnson, third; Impromptu Speaking – Adam Bernbaum, third; Emerging Business Issues – Team of Adam Bernbaum, Will Bernbaum, first; Business Graphics – Team of Kayela Arrotta, Amy Wang, second, Team of Hackney, Morden, fourth.
The chapter scrapbook prepared by Goold, Andrea Freeman, Beschta, and Knowlton, as well as the Local Chapter Annual Business Report prepared by Avenger, will be submitted at the State FBLA Conference.
CV Able Learner students take first place at DI
The Destination Imagination team from the Central Valley Able Learner Program recently competed in a regional competition. They won first place in the elementary division of the CSI: DI problem. They also won a DaVinci award which is given for exceptional creativity in the solution of the problem. Team members are: Jennifer Loehner and Joseph Hall, Ponderosa Elementary; Kayla Snider, Lisa Miller and Hannah Rash, Opportunity Elementary; and Emily Boynton, Adams Elementary. The team will compete at the state level in Wenatchee on March 31.