Choose Health Action Teens
Teens as teachers engaging youth in health promotion
The Choose Health Action Teens (CHAT) program is a collaborative initiative of Cornell’s Division of Nutritional Sciences and Cornell Cooperative Extension’s 4-H Youth Development Program that integrates youth civic engagement with efforts to encourage healthy lifestyles by engaging teens in teaching healthy eating and active living to younger youth. Cooperative Extension educators or other adult mentors recruit, train, and mentor local teens to teach or co-teach the Choose Health: Food, Fun, and Fitness (CHFFF) youth curriculum to 8-15-year-olds in after-school programs, summer camps, schools, and other settings.
Evaluation suggests that participating teens gain leadership and facilitation skills and also change their own eating and physical activity habits.
- CHAT Evaluation Report, 2014
- Evaluation of virtual CHAT in New York City during COVID-19 (link coming; article submitted to the Journal of Extension, 1/23)
Steps for successfully leading CHAT
The CHAT program is intended for use by Cooperative Extension educators and other adult mentors with some knowledge of nutrition and experience working with youth. Those without a nutrition background are encouraged to carefully review the CHFFF curriculum and materials including the background for each CHFFF lesson and work closely with a local nutrition professional, if possible, in learning the curriculum and training the teens.
- Become familiar with the program by thoroughly reviewing the CHFFF curriculum and training materials, the CHAT webinar and the CHAT Resources, below.
- Learn to teach CHFFF, either by attending a training or by learning and practicing the lessons on your own.
- Recruit teens with an interest in health, teaching, and improving their leadership skills.
- Provide high quality training to enable the teens to be successful by following the 12-hour teen training modules, which include lesson teach-backs, relevant nutrition content, and effective group leadership skills.
- Provide ongoing mentoring and support, including debriefing with constructive feedback after practice and live teaching.
- Coordinate teaching sites, gather supplies, and help prepare and co-facilitate each lesson.
- If you are not in Extension, connect with your local Extension association, as some can provide support for CHAT and/or CHFFF.
CHAT Resources
The CHAT Facilitator Guide and other resources are available to download and use for the limited purpose of education and training by non-profit organizations. Please be sure to acknowledge Cornell in any media coverage.
- CHAT Facilitator Guide
- CHAT Teen Training Guide
- Teen Handouts for CHAT Training
- CHAT Materials
- CHAT Recruitment Flyers
- Jeopardy Nutrition Review PowerPoint Slides
- Flash Cards for Nutrition Review
- Optional PowerPoint Slides for Teen Training:
- SMART Goal Setting slides (for Module 7: Guided Goal-Setting)
- Know Kids to Teach Them slides (for Module 10)
- Know Kids to Teach Them facilitator script
Other Training Resources
- CHAT Webinar: Introductory webinar for educators on implementing CHAT, including sharing by local educators.
- Guide for CCE Educators to Train Individuals to Lead CHAT: A one-on-one training guide for those experienced in CHAT to train new leaders.
Local CHAT Experiences
- Example Teen Training Agenda
- Good-bye video made by the teens after their NYC summer 2000 CHAT experience
- Article about the NYC 2020 virtual CHAT program