Heart of the Matter

This documentary follows the health and wellness journey of Portland, Oregon’s Benson Polytechnic High School faculty and students. Together they work to create a healthy school culture by taking an innovative approach that includes making significant changes to schedules, curriculum and the school’s outlook on health.

HealthCorps coordinator Amy Barras started at Benson at the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year. She spent much of her first year building relationships among the staff and community while simultaneously working to build excitement about health education among the students, championing healthy activities, classroom lessons and Cooking Club. Barras’ second year at Benson saw a group of teachers and administrators come together with the hope of transforming the student culture into one that prioritized wellness. The Fit to Live and Learn wellness program was born from this collaboration and took form during the 2012-2013 school year – it was this program and their journey to health and wellness that was documented in this film.