Hola y bienvenidos! My name is Marina Gomez and I am proud to call myself a HEALer. After our first session with my fellow HEALers, and seeing the diverse wealth of knowledge and experiences we make up as a group, I am eager and excited to embark upon this journey. I felt at home surrounded with an energetic group of people who share the same hope of creating a vital and healthy community.
Currently, I work as a high school teacher at Johnston Heights Secondary. After 3 years of working at different schools, going from teaching science to math and now languages, and constantly planning for new courses, I now feel that I’ve found a home at Johnston Heights. What I love most about my job, is being surrounded by youth who are full of awe and wonder as to what their future may hold. I love being part of their journey in molding who they will become and I strive to empower them in their hopes and dreams. I see teaching as a means to reaching out to youth and helping them become aware of their potential.
Wanting to move forward in my career, I saw the next step as taking on a master’s degree. When looking for a program, I knew I wanted to find one that would intrigue me and motive me to take on, once again, the life of a student. The Health Education and Active Living program sounded ideal for me, as it focuses on what I’m passionate about, and that is healthy living. I’ve come to realize how incredibly resilient yet at the same time fragile, the human body is and that we constantly take our bodies for granted. In order to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, it all roots down to how we take care of ourselves. The idea of you are what you eat, holds a lot of truth and I’ve noticed that what I eat affects my mood, my ability to produce, mentally and physically and mandates how I function as a whole. Also, in order to survive the daily grind, whether cleaning the house, carrying groceries, or picking up your kids and to enjoy leisurely living, having a working body is essential. Physical activity not only makes you stronger and allows you to function at full capacity, it also a great escape from daily stresses. Although I am now fully aware of what leading a healthy lifestyle encompasses, embodying these principles is a whole other matter.
My expectations of this program are to gain a strong foundation of how to embody healthy living, and to be an example to those who surround me of the benefits of striving for vitality. I’m also very eager to learn more about the social determinants of health and its manifestation in our schools and community settings. By the end of the program, I hope to have a better idea of how I can take what I have learned, and apply it to my role as an educator.
My interest in health stems from when I was in my early 20s and decided to eat a vegetarian diet. It all began when a friend told me he had decided to become vegan after watching a PETA video about cruelty towards animals. I decided to dig deeper and began reading up on where our food comes from and it’s impact on our health and the environment and how people are affected along the way. It really struck me how blind society is to what is behind the curtain of food production. After reading books like In the Defense of Food by Michael Pollan and watching documentaries such as Food INC. or listening to Mark Bittman on TEDtalks talk about “what's wrong with what we eat,” I’ve come to see the crisis our society faces in terms of our diet and how it affects our health.
After paying more attention to my diet, I began to notice changes in myself. I had more energy, I hardly ever got sick, and I felt more positive about my life. As a soccer player, I noticed I could now run harder for longer.
Now, entering my late 20s, I’m noticing that in order keep up the feeling of vitality, not only mindful eating, but also making time for daily fitness is key. During this program, I hope to find the motivation to ‘walk the talk’ of healthy living. As I continue to play soccer, I hope to incorporate more variety of active practices in my leisure time, especially in the outdoors.
Ciao for now!
Marina
