![\"\"](\"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/01\/Community-Health-students-copy-2.jpg\")
Southern Arkansas University Department of Nursing community health students teamed up with Special Olympics Arkansas to host a Healthy Young Athletes Experience at Magnolia Specialized Services during the fall semester.<\/p>\nSouthern Arkansas University Department of Nursing community health students teamed up with Special Olympics Arkansas to host a Healthy Young Athletes Experience at Magnolia Specialized Services during the fall semester.<\/p>\n
The event focused on promoting wellness and healthy habits among young athletes, aged 2\u20137 years, through fun, educational, play-based activities. Stations included interactive lessons on handwashing, nutritious foods, dental care, physical activity, the importance of sleep, and maintaining a healthy mind.<\/p>\n
The community health nursing students completed the Inclusive Health Training program offered by Special Olympics. The nursing students then applied this training in practice by developing educational materials tailored to a specific audience, monitoring growth and development milestones, and observing how professional collaboration enhances community health outcomes.<\/p>\n
Dr. Alice Fanning and Dr. Tara Almand from the Nursing Department guided students as they led presentations and hands-on learning experiences for participants. \u201cThis partnership allows our nursing students to apply their community health knowledge while making a positive impact on children\u2019s lives,\u201d said Dr. Almand. \u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity for both learning and service.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Healthy Young Athletes Experience is part of Special Olympics Arkansas\u2019 ongoing efforts to promote health, inclusion, and lifelong wellness for individuals of all abilities.<\/p>\n
Dr. Karen Ainsworth Landry, chair of the Department of Nursing, stated, \u201cWe are proud of our community health students for their dedication to promoting wellness and inclusion among young athletes. Through this meaningful partnership with Special Olympics Arkansas, our students gained valuable hands-on experience in health education, collaboration, and advocacy\u2014skills that are crucial for improving community health and nursing practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
About SAU:<\/p>\n
Southern Arkansas University provides students with the complete college experience in a caring environment of service, innovation, and community. With more than 100 degrees across four distinct colleges and the School of Graduate Studies, SAU initiates new degree programs to meet the needs of today’s career and professional trends. To learn more about SAU, visit www.saumag.edu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Southern Arkansas University Department of Nursing community health students teamed up with Special Olympics Arkansas to host a Healthy Young Athletes Experience at Magnolia Specialized Services during the fall semester. The event focused on promoting wellness and healthy habits among young athletes, aged 2\u20137 years, through fun, educational, play-based activities. Stations included interactive lessons on… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":11721,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[272,308,7753,76],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11715","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-archives","8":"category-college-of-science-and-technology","9":"category-homepage","10":"category-nursing","11":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11715"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11720,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11715\/revisions\/11720"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}