Inspiring students to be more active and eat healthy sounds like a dream job to many of us. To Psalm Bingham, coach and nutrition coordinator at the Crim Fitness Foundation, it’s part of what she does every day.
Psalm coaches cheerleading, basketball, volleyball and other sports as well as teaches nutrition to K-5 students at Potter and Neithercut Elementary Schools and Holmes STEM Academy. She has also led yoga and mindfulness sessions.
But the best part for Psalm, a Flint native and graduate of Flint Southwestern Academy, is her opportunity to inspire the kids she works with.
“It’s humbling to know that what I’m doing is making a great impact on the kids,” said Psalm. “It’s great being a role model. That’s what I like about it. The kids look at me and say, ‘Oh! I could do that for a career?’ I’m really grateful that I get to do this everyday.”
During one of her nutrition lessons, Psalm has her students run a “restaurant” and as their assignment, they have to plan a healthy menu for their teachers. Turning the lesson into a game kept students engaged and piqued their interest. “They had a lot of fun with that one,” she said. “I had some students asking if they can do that as a career after school.”
“I want to get out there and show kids there is more to being healthy than taking medicine when you’re sick. You can practice yoga, mindfulness, play sports, eat healthy,” said Psalm. “I just want to show them there’s lots of different ways to be active and healthy.”
