It's HIP to Be Healthy: 1,000 Miami High Schoolers Rallying at Marlins Ballpark to Promote Health

MIAMI - March 16, 2015 - PRLog -- MIAMI – One thousand local high school students will gather at Marlins Ballpark on Tuesday, March 17 to celebrate their involvement in Health Information Project (HIP), a volunteer organization that has empowered them to tackle the health crises of their generation.

HIP Day will bring together high school students from 37 high schools across Miami-Dade to share experiences related to providing health education to more than 27,000 9^th grade students during this school year. The event will include workshops, student testimonials, videos and activities to spark meaningful dialogue about adolescent health.

In addition to the 1,000 student/peer educators, 100 adult faculty sponsors, faculty chaperones, district superintendents, school board members, politicians, community leaders and philanthropists will be in attendance. This year’s event marks the 4^th Annual HIP Day gathering.

When health classes were no longer offered in Florida’s public schools in 2008, Miami-Dade County Public Schools graduate Risa Berrin rallied high school students to fill that void and create a more innovative approach—HIP.

“HIP makes health education more appealing and more innovative than the usual lectures, cheesy videos, outdated textbooks and scare tactics,” said Ms. Berrin HIP’s Founder & Executive Director and a graduate of Miami Palmetto Senior High School. . “Students prefer to learn from their peers—so we put the kids in charge.  We have students giving each other smart, relevant health information, and connecting them to reliable resources. We’re creating high school campuses where it’s hip to be healthy.”

For additional information, please visit www.behip.org or to view HIP Day 2014, please watch our

120 second video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyi663JaPdE&feature=youtu.be



About HIP:Health Information Project (HIP) is a 501(c)3, not-for-profit organization, located in Miami, Florida, home to the nation's fourth largest school district. HIP empowers teens to tackle the health crises of their generation and encourages them to access existing community health resources. HIP educates high school students through a school-based, peer-to-peer comprehensive health education model.  HIP addresses a variety of such topics, as depression, obesity, eating disorders, diabetes, bullying and abuse. HIP has worked with more than 50,000 high school students since its creation in 2009. In the 2014-2015 school year, HIP is working in nearly 40 high schools with 1,000 peer health educators serving 27,000 9th graders.