Crestview Elementary, Lubbock, TX
Thursday, March 1, 2007

Each year, students at Crestview Elementary learn about the realities of living with diabetes during their School Walk for Diabetes (SWFD) event. Crestview's physical education coordinator, Karen Conder, uses hands on strategies to show her students about the science and the people behind diabetes.

In addition to using SWFD educational lessons, Conder introduces students to the equipment that people with diabetes use by bringing in a glucose monitor, insulin bottles, syringes and glucose tablets. She also has people with diabetes come and talk to her students. One year, a person with type 1 diabetes came to demonstrate how the insulin pump worked.

This year, a third grader living with diabetes shared his experience during an interview on the morning announcements. He described his diagnosis and what he has to do to take care of himself, such as administering his own insulin shots. He told others not to be afraid, and to keep praying because some day there will be a cure.

To recognize students, friends and family members who are affected by diabetes, Crestview has a Memory Wall up in the gym to remind students who they are walking for during SWFD. "It means a lot to the students to know that someone right here on campus is affected by diabetes," said Conder.

Because of SWFD, students at Crestview Elementary better understand what it means to live with diabetes. Their increased knowledge allows them to relate to friends and family who have the disease, and they support their loved ones by raising money to support the ADA.