At summer camps across the region, kids are playing football, tie-dying T-shirts and building mock volcanoes. But at one WashU summer camp, students are making art to explore an unlikely topic: public health.

The LIGHT Creativity in Public Health Summer Camp encourages students to tap into their imaginations and lived experiences to create artwork, poetry and stories that communicate the importance of health and science.

“As a field, public health rarely considers children as experts of their own health and well-being. Our goal is to give children that voice through art,” said Juliet Iwelunmor, a professor of medicine and associate director for global health and dissemination at WashU Medicine and director of the school’s Light Institute for Global Health and Transformation, which hosts the summer camp for elementary and middle school students.

During the one-week camp, children engaged in various creative practices such as writing, zine-making, drawing and more. They also heard from a range of speakers, including faculty from the new WashU School of Public Health, local medical experts and community activists. They also dove deep into the concept of trust — why it matters in their relationships and how to build it in their communities.

Juliet Iwelunmor leads campers in a mindfulness exercise designed to relieve stress and anxiety by wrapping themselves in tie-dyed cloth handmade in Nigeria. (Photo: Carol Green/WashU)

During one popular session about mindfulness and mental health, Iwelunmor, who also has a secondary appointment at the School of Public Health, explained how Nigerian head scarves can function as a metaphor for both comfort and stress. She asked students to close their eyes and think about stressors in their lives, like friend drama and homework. The children then tied a knot in brightly colored scarves for each stressor. Then the students untied the knots while practicing breathing exercises and reflecting on the support systems in their lives.

“Notice yourself as you take a breath in and breathe out,” Iwelunmor told the campers. “Notice you were stressed. Now open your scarf and say what you see.”

“I see a bunch of colors,” one student said.

“Trees and lily pads,” another answered.

“When you’re stressed, there are people who will be willing to cover you and comfort you like these scarves,” Iwelunmor told the students, now wrapped in their scarves.

Eighth grade student Lotanna Ezepue said the exercise taught her how to relax herself.

“Unraveling the scarves was letting the stress go,” Lotanna said.

The camp is part of LIGHT, Leaders Igniting Generational Healing and Transformation, one of the projects under the Light Institute for Global Health and Transformation umbrella. In addition to the camp, LIGHT publishes a magazine, which will include contributions from the campers, and hosts the LIGHT Festival, which will take place Thursday, June 19, online and in person at the Delmar Divine. Other Light Institute programs partner with young people to address HIV, HPV, cancer and other issues.

“A piece that ties all of the Light Institute’s programs together is a shared focus on bringing the public to conversations about public health,” said Emily Miller, of the Light Institute. “By asking young people to share their ideas, we have the privilege of working with them and empower youth to co-design interventions to implement in their communities as the next generation of public health researchers and advocates.”

Iwelunmor created the camp as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on children. She wants children to understand that government policies and scientific research don’t make communities healthy — people do.

“When COVID arrived, children were told to wear masks and social distance, but they were never taught what public health means and why it matters. That’s not part of an elementary school curriculum,” Iwelunmor said. “The pandemic has passed, but we can’t go back to the way things were. We have to find a way to get evidence-based interventions — whether it’s the importance of mindfulness in helping kids with anxiety and depression or strategies to prevent the spread of the next pandemic — out of the

academic and to the kids. Creative expression is one way to do that. We should never leave the children behind.”

LIGHT Creativity in Public Health Summer Camp will return to WashU next summer. The program offers scholarships to ensure that cost is not a barrier for any student who wishes to participate.

Second grade student Catherine Denny, the youngest attendee of the camp, said she enjoyed the different elements of camp, such as learning about the important role trust plays in her life and in science.

“I like all the people that come and I like the friends I’ve made. I’m learning a lot about how you can be healthy, and I’m learning a lot about art,” Denny said. “I’ve learned that you always need to be trusting. You always need to tell the truth.”