Wellness - Building Healthy Lifestyles
The Martin County School District offers an Employee Wellness Program to improve the health and well-being of employees and their dependents. We are committed to providing our employees with information, educational activities, and preventive screenings needed to improve their health and incorporate healthier lifestyle options into daily routines.
What is wellness?
Wellness is a holistic and active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a healthy, fulfilling life and achieving one’s full potential. There are eight dimensions of wellness: occupational, emotional, spiritual, environmental, financial, physical, social and intellectual. Each is interrelated with another and is equally important in the pursuit of health.
The Eight Dimensions of Wellness
Want to be a Wellness Ambassador?
Wellness Ambassadors are MCSD employees who promote District-sponsored wellness programs. To be an effective wellness ambassador, you need to lead by example, regardless of where you are in your personal wellness journey.
Wellness Ambassadors market, publicize and recruit MCSD staff to participate in health and wellbeing activities and events by:
Forwarding and posting all biweekly Wellness Wednesday newsletters (must have access to District email); reserving a “wellness message” in staff meetings to convey information on health topics and upcoming wellness events and programs.
Creating, hosting and planning unique wellness initiatives for their school site or department staff; a minimum of two per school year (Fall and Spring).
Participating in Building Healthy Lifestyles Wellness Program events.
Identifying potential ideas, strategies and programs for enhancing wellbeing and a healthy environment.
Serving as a Wellness Ambassador will require 30 minutes to two hours of time per month, depending upon special events occurring through the Building Healthy Lifestyle program or at each school location/department. All Wellness Ambassador roles are voluntary and should be worked on using discretion related to required job responsibilities and departmental priorities. Contact Abby Caviston for more information.
Star Wellness Ambassador
Congratulations, Kim Summers Lintz! She is this quarter’s winner of the STAR WELLNESS AMBASSADOR Award!
Ms. Summers Lintz has shown tremendous effort in sharing her wellness message with Stuart Middle School. As the Building Healthy Lifestyles staff, we are so impressed and proud of her continued efforts to excel in multiple dimensions of wellness. One of Kim's strengths as a Wellness Ambassador is the level of enthusiasm she shares with her SMS team members, as well as with the ‘Building Healthy Lifestyles’ team. She does a wonderful job of getting her team members motivated and excited about their onsite wellness initiatives. Way to go, Kim… keep up the great work!
Healthy Hero Award
The Healthy Hero award is open to all employees who make healthy choices in pursuit of their wellness goals in any of the eight dimensions of wellness. Each school/department’s Wellness Ambassador(s) will have the ability to nominate an individual for the Healthy Hero award to the Building Healthy Lifestyles staff. Nominations will include the employee’s name, location, achievements, photo (optional) and the nominated employee must give approval for the nomination prior. Each month’s winner will receive recognition in a MCSD Wellness Wednesday update and the MCSD Wellness Program’s page of the website. They will also receive a gift that represents one of the eight dimensions of wellness and Certificate of Achievement to display their impressive accomplishment. For questions regarding this program, please reach out to your school/department’s Wellness Ambassador(s).
March 2024
Congratulations to Paul Ferreira winner of the Healthy Hero Award!
Billee Jean Brown, ET Secretary and Wellness Ambassador shared the following:
Paul Ferreira with Educational Technology has been a real inspiration to all of us in the department. He is a big advocate for eating healthy not only to promote his health but also to inspire the whole department to eat healthy. He supports the Benefits Wellness Challenges and encourages others to participate as well. One of Paul’s goals includes training for marathons. Paul has run 5 marathons and a dozen half marathons in his career. He just ran the Marathon of the Treasure Coast in Stuart on March 3rd. He ran the Half Marathon with a finish time of 2:28:43. He plans on running the same event next year and set his goal to better his time by fifteen minutes.
March 2024
Congratulations to Dani Collin, March winner of the Healthy Hero Award!
Wellness Ambassador Nicole Beasley shared the following about Dani:
To work on her wellness she has been going to Burn Boot Camp for almost a year and a half. Dani attends the 5:00 a.m. classes and then heads to work, able to check it off her to-do list and unable to cancel on herself. By working on her physical health, she has not only gained muscle and lost weight but also replaced unhealthy habits with healthier ones. She has increased her self-confidence and made friends who motivate and inspire her to continue. She radiates at Bessey Creek and others strive to be like her.
February 2024
Congratulations to Alicia Stover, as she is the February winner of the Healthy Hero Award!
Mrs. Stover has been chosen as PWE’s February Healthy Hero. Mrs. Stover wakes up in the morning and heads straight to the gym 5 days a week before coming to work. She feels as though starting the day out with some exercise and relieving some stress makes it a much more positive day, not to mention this helps with not just physical health but also with social emotional, and spiritual health. Not only does it help going to the gym in the morning to start the day off positive, but it allows her to have her afternoons available to help families, as she is a volunteer for Children’s Emergency Resources, a resource that raises funds to help parents with medical expenses for underprivileged students/children in Martin County. She is the Program Coordinator and has been volunteering now for 15 years.
On Fridays, she tries to schedule an afternoon out with friends to catch up with friends and unwind either at the beach enjoying the scenery or out for a bite to eat. She is also big on family time and feels that spending time and making memories is very important. Our decision was easy as Mrs. Stover always has a positive outlook on things and isn’t afraid of sharing it!”
January 2024
Congratulations to the winner of January's Health Hero Award, Lexi Gray, Palm City Elementary teacher.
Lexi is very health conscious. She plans her meals and packs lunch every day. Lexi is a true inspiration for healthy lunch choices and is eager to share creative ideas to make healthy eating not “boring.” She is committed to her daily morning Peloton workouts and encourages others to join in on the fun. Lexi is a true ray of sunshine and is always smiling. This is attributed to her positive outlook on life and living each day to its fullest!
December 2023
Congratulations to Jen Radcliff, principal of Jensen Beach Elementary School, the December winner of the Healthy Hero Award!
Being a healthy hero is balancing your body, mind and soul. This balance comes from taking time to readjust her core and fuel up every single day. Ms. Jen Radcliff does just that. Taking time to participate in Pilates has given the job of principal a new meaning. She does not let the ups and downs pull at her in all areas of her life. Pilates is the answer. The buck stops with her every single day. From making split decisions, disciplining a student who has fallen off the positive path, and giving a smile to everyone else. Being the leader of the school requires her to be in sync with who she leads every day. Staying focused to keep her engine full requires exercise daily, which is Pilates. Ms. Radcliff has committed to Pilates and we are proud of her commitment to keeping herself healthy, as well as keeping everyone at JBE on the right track. Keep up the good work!
November 2023
Congratulations to Cynthia Bishop from Murray Middle School, our November Healthy Heroine!
A few years ago, Cynthia realized that she had to change her lifestyle. She started eating healthier food, drinking more water, and exercising either playing tennis or attending Jazzercise classes. She plays Pickle Ball 3 times a week and walks 5 miles a day! She says that doing exercise has kept her away from snacking. Exercising is the key to staying healthy and keeping fit. Mrs. Bishop has been our SWAT Club advisor here at Murray for the past 9 years, this year being her 10th, she promotes a healthy lifestyle to students by encouraging them not to smoke cigarettes, use any type of tobacco products, or vape. She has won several awards for her outstanding work as the SWAT (Students Working Against Tobacco) advisor.
October 2023
Congratulations to Chris Lee at SeaWind Elementary School, the winner of October’s Healthy Hero Award!
Chris was nominated by Wellness Ambassador Melissa Pastor. Check out the nomination write-up submitted by Melissa. “This month, we are nominating our PE teacher, Chris Lee. Coach Lee is an exemplary example of a Healthy Hero. About 5-7 days a week he is doing some form of physical activity. From going to the gym, to running, swimming, and mowing the yard, or walking a theme park, he is physically active every day of the week. This not only helps improve his physical health, but also improves his spiritual, social, and emotional health. He believes that in order to be a good role model to his students as a physical education teacher, he needs to practice what he preaches. Being active can improve more than just a few things listed as well. People are physically active for different reasons and his are for his own sanity, but also because he enjoys the challenge of improving himself each day. Just because Coach Lee spends so much time taking care of his physical dimension, doesn’t mean he neglects the other 7! Chris is an avid traveler and definitely takes time to recharge and sightsee his way around the world! He has found a good balance between occupational and social wellness. He completed his Masters. We look forward to Coach Lee’s wellness initiatives and the leadership he provides to our students and staff at SWE!”
Have questions? We want to hear from you!
For additional information regarding the Martin County School District's Building Healthy Lifestyles Wellness Program, please reach out to Abby Caviston by phone at 772.219.1200 x 30386 or by email at cavista@martinschools.org