By Lance Maggart | lmaggart@skyhinews.com

The East Grand School District’s annual sixth grade health fair was held Thursday in Granby and featured a collection of first responder organizations, local non-profits and businesses that work to promote health and fitness.

The event is something of a tradition for the youngest students at East Grand Middle School and serves as a bookend of sorts to the preceding school year. The East Grand Middle School Health Committee sponsors the health fair.

Carla Potts, East Grand’s Title I teacher, worked with the health committee to help organize the event, which see called a “huge success.” She chalked it up to the involvement of volunteers from the community.

“It is always our goal to educate our sixth graders on as many aspects of safety for summer, as well as throughout the year,” Potts said. “The students learned about campfire, water, and electrical safety, how to be kind and healthy, physically and mentally, along with getting up close with a fire truck, ambulance, and helicopter.”

The health fair kicked off with the landing of a Flight for Life helicopter from the Classic Air Medical Team based out of Steamboat Springs.

There were over a dozen different entities presenting at the health fair, each with at least one station for the students to check out; the Grand Fire Protection District and Grand County EMS each had two stations, one in the Middle School gymnasium and one outdoors to allow students to check out the ambulances and fire trucks utilized by those two agencies.

The sixth grade students were divided into small groups that transitioned from one station to the next in timed intervals. The students learned all about the dangers of intoxication and high voltage power lines. They discussed the need for physical fitness and learned some simple techniques they can use to stay healthy.

The students delved into the vast array of equipment local firefighters and paramedics rely on to save lives and they got a first-hand explanation of what the Flight for Life helicopter crews in Colorado do for their job. The Chris Mullinex Water Rescue Fund was also on hand, extolling the virtues of proper water safety. The event also featured stations set up by local non-profits like Grand Futures and some from local Crossfit and yoga businesses.