The Blog

MEET MONICA SOLIS

I didn’t know what “healthy” really was until I went to college. Throughout middle school and high school, since I wasn’t on a sports team, I was stuck in general P.E. where most coaches had my classmates and I walking the track or running errands. In health class we would learn about diseases and viruses, but not about what it means to be healthy. It wasn’t until I started college and took health-related classes that I knew it was time to start making changes toward a  healthy lifestyle.

Some people might think that you can become healthy overnight, but it’s not that easy. Since I grew up not knowing what it was to be healthy, it made it that much harder to start. In college, I started making small changes in my life like lifting weights, drinking 1% milk instead of whole milk, and eating wheat bread instead of white bread. It was then that I realized I wanted to help children who have a similar background as I did, by teaching them about what being healthy really means.

When I was looking for an internship, I was drawn to IT’S TIME TEXAS’ mission of “making healthy the norm,” and their Out of School Program, which works directly with children. Once I interviewed and found out more, I was hooked! To “make healthy the norm,” we need to make sure that children understand the concept of what it means to be healthy. Helping children to start making healthy choices, at an early age, will have a lasting impact on their lives.