Since the beginning of the 2020-21 school year, St. Louis area school districts have been mostly learning through online schooling due to having high numbers of the population test positive for COVID-19. All Hazelwood School District schools have been remote learning for the entire year so far with no plans of going back to school in person at any point. 

“Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the primary zip codes HSD serves have experienced some of the highest infection rates in the state (of Missouri),” according to the Hazelwood School District Health & Wellness Services. As a result of this, all students started the 2020-21 school year virtually. 

In response to shutting down their district schools, for at least the entire 2020-21 school year, the Hazelwood School District has created the Help Hazelwood Get Healthy campaign to meet the unique challenges of this school year, in hopes to go back to school by next school year. In order to successfully return to in-person learning, without interruption, the whole Hazelwood community must improve. To do this, necessary steps must be taken to get healthier, faster by following the COVID-19 guidelines such as wearing a mask, washing your hands, and practicing social distancing.

The Help Hazelwood Get Healthy Campaign 

The Help Hazelwood Get Healthy campaign was designed to aim at encouraging everyone who lives and works in the district to wash their hands, wear a mask, and practice social distancing. The Hazelwood School District hopes to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 throughout the community by starting HHGH. For more information on the Help Hazelwood Get Healthy campaign, visit Help Hazelwood Get Healthy!. 

To get staff and students engaged in the HHGH campaign, the Hazelwood School District has set up contests. In the first contest, the Leadership Team will select 15 student participants and five staff participants as winners. Each winner will receive a $50 gift card from the Hazelwood NEA Teachers’ Union. The contest calls for participants to create posters, poems, or videos inspired by the campaign. For more information on the Help Hazelwood Get Healthy campaign contest and guidelines, visit Win $50 Gift Card; Help Hazelwood Get Healthy, (must be a Hazelwood School District student or staff member to enter). 

Going Further Than the Hazelwood Community

The Help Hazelwood Get Healthy campaign can go further than just the Hazelwood community. By all the communities seeing what this campaign is about and by adapting it, we can have so many healthier communities during this time. Spread the word on the Help Hazelwood Get Healthy campaign, and practice it in your own community.

Help Hazelwood and other communities get healthy. “Wash. Mask. Distance.” One Healthy Community Leads to Many Healthy Communities.