Wellness Center Student Interns

Youth Outreach Workers (YOWs) are high school interns that are members of their site Wellness teams. There are over 100 high school YOWs in SFUSD. YOWs work with an adult youth outreach coordinator to develop their own program which could include working on site teams (such as the Wellness Team, Coordinate Care Team, School Site Council, Parent Teacher Student Association, affinity clubs), health & wellness promotion and intervention projects, and peer support.

Adolescents are known to be more sensitive to peer influence than at any other age. The YOWs play a vital role in empowering and educating their peers to make healthy choices, reaching thousands of students annually. YOWs are ambassadors for health and wellness

Each Center also has 4-10 student interns who serve as ambassadors to promote student health and wellness, and are responsible for increasing student awareness of the Wellness services and collaborating with Wellness and school staff on school-wide activities and classroom presentations.

Our Youth Outreach Program trains more than 100 students each year in health promotion. Under the guidance of adult mentors, student leaders develop peer health education workshops and school-wide health promotion events that reach thousands of students annually. Trained to educate their peers, YOWs develop their own classroom presentations and school-wide events focused on topics such as healthy relationships, stress reduction, LGBTQ sensitivity, sexual health and the negative impact of substance abuses. As ambassadors of the Wellness Programs, YOWs help ensure that all segments of the school population are aware of the services available through our Wellness Centers.