FLINT, Michigan — Two years into an ongoing pandemic, students are invited to share their stories about the impacts of COVID-19 and family health history.
Genesee Health Plan (GHP) is now accepting entries for its Seventh Annual Health Heritage Essay Contest. The contest is open to all Flint and Genesee County students in grades 5-12, including students in home-school, private school, and virtual/distance learning.
Through this contest, students are encouraged to interview one or more family members and learn about their family health history, COVID-19, and why it’s important for the present and future. The essay can reflect their findings as well as their plans for their future health.
More essay topics include:
- Your family’s health history
- Your current health/COVID-19
- Which family members you talk with
- Positive things you learned about the health behaviors of your family
- What you learned that influenced changes in your health behaviors/habits
- What you would like to do to improve your health and the health of your family
- The difference in health outcomes between racial and ethnic groups
“Knowing your family health history, especially during COVID-19, is important because each person is impacted by the pandemic in a different way,”
said
E. Yvonne Lewis, GHP Director of Outreach and Founder/CEO of the National Center for African American Health Consciousness.
The contest originally began in February 2015 to coincide with Black History Month with a focus on family health history. Last year, the contest drew 115 submissions which were the most since the contest began.
All essay submissions are due by Monday, April 4. Contest winners have a chance to win a prize and will be recognized at a later date.
Essays can be submitted electronically to:
[email protected] or dropped off at the GHP office located at 2171 S. Linden Road, Flint.
More information, specific essay guidelines, and contest rules can be found at geneseehealthplan.org.
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