Health Advocate

You talked about having attention deficit disorder [ADD].$$Um-hm.$$They didn't call it that then. Was there anything that the teachers might have recognized or is this just something that you realized after growing up (simultaneous)?$$(Simultaneous) I realized it, I realized it. I always knew I was different. I always knew that. But I think because there was something about my personality that people liked. I don't know what it was. I was a pleasure, you know. I was that person, if the teacher thought it, you know, I was right there, you know, with this big smile. And so, sometimes kids have personalities that's just sort of grate, I think, person's nerves, they did then. But I had a way of sort of reading people and figuring out what they wanted, even my parents [Ruthie Waters Sanders and West Sanders]. And those were the things that I did. But now that I know what kids with attention deficit with hyperactivity [ADHD] look like, and I've been a counselor, I know that I was a classic case. They would let me run errands. I would dust all of the erasers. Anything extra to do because once I finished my work, I wanted to talk to everybody and I wanted to--my boyfriend was in kindergarten through fifth grade with me. So I wanted to sit and help him read because he stuttered. And it was very important that he learned to read and so I would sit with him. And he never learned to read anything except what I wanted him to read. And I was just all over the place. Just--and so, really, I guess, they would let me go outside and play by myself. I could go outside and play, you know, by myself. And then I'd come back in.$$What type of student were you?$$I was a good B student, a good B student. I was a strong B student. I could make A's and perhaps if worked at it, I probably could have. I just thought that that was painful. I hated math. It was so painful to me. And I, I like art. I like drawing. I like acting, you know. Those other things were painful, you know, because you have to concentrate, you had to sit still, you couldn't talk, you couldn't move and I'm saying, "Oh, my god. Why do we have to do these other things?"$What did that plan consist of?$$Well, the first thing that we looked at and people always say, "Oh my god, she took all the sugar out of the school." Well, we came up with a plan well, well before the wellness policy came out two years ago, we created our own wellness policy in our school [Browns Mill Elementary School, Lithonia, Georgia]. We had a health committee that consisted of PTA [Parent Teacher Association] members, cafeteria workers, people on the school--the teachers, cafeter- the custodians, anybody that would touch a child's life in some way, we had to have representative. And we looked at the menus, what we served every day, how often we served it, what we could take away, what we needed to add. We looked at all the fried foods that we had. We look at how much fruit, how much dessert, which you had to have dessert every day. And of course, we had a southern state. I mean, just comes with the territory. We wanted as much fresh fruit and vegetables as we could have. We wanted to bake as much as we could. We looked at ordering more fish, chicken and turkey for protein. Of course, seven years ago, I wanted a lot of fiber. I wanted yogurt. I wanted soy milk. And I was told that, "Oh, my god, are you insane or what?" Well, today of course, we have that. But those were the things that we wanted. No more chocolate milk, no strawberry milk, no milk of any color. Parents had to agree that they wouldn't send fried chicken, the dinner from the night before, hot fries and all things that just were not supporting our health policy. And they agreed. We also looked at any parties that we had, Valentine's and winter holiday, Christmas parties, that they would not have every cake and pie in--that they could imagine and candy. Those were no longer things that would be a part of our school. We created our own list, preferred snack list for our students. And parents have abide- they've abided by that. But it didn't come without educating them. It wasn't something I told them; it's something we did together. And I brought in anybody, everybody that could educate them on how food worked with or against the body, how physical activity with or against the body. We looked at our physical activity program. We also bumped that up to include things that kids could relate to. Instead of things that they were doing fifty years ago when I was in elementary school; twenty-five sides drill hop, bend, touch your toe. You know, kids like dance, they like movement, they like yoga, they like aerobics. And so we looked at doing stations in PE [physical education]. And so, everybody agreed that we would move forward with a contract that every parent and student signs during registration. If they're new entering the school, they sign a contract saying what they will do to support their health and academics. And so, we became the first sugar free zone school in the country, in '99 [1999], 1999. And the kids actually said that because when they came for the first day of school that year said, "Oh my god. There's no chocolate milk, there's not even cookies, Dr. Butler's [HistoryMaker Yvonne Sanders-Butler] taken all the sugar out. This must be a sugar free school." And so, actually, that is how it started.

Okay, I wanna go back to I guess grade school I guess--no, or middle school. I read that when you were thirteen a dentist, you know, explained to you what dentistry was about, showed you some tools, and you were inspired by that.$$Yeah, that, that was the next sort of turning point for me when I think back because I went to those sessions to get my orthodontic treatment with the lessons that, that Ms. [Viola] Johnson taught me. So when I was there I, I guess I was searching for what, what am I gonna attach this dream to, this, this dream of becoming a professional. I guess I was just exploring, and then I was just curious with what he was doing. And I guess he picked up on that, so he took that as a teachable moment. And he was giving me information about the teeth and the tools, and then he would quiz me in the next visit, you know, no more than five minutes each time I saw him. And that, you know, and I think more so than his profession that interest me, it was him and how he seemed to be happy, seemed to be able to help people, and just be really, it seemed like he was just dynamic with what he was doing. And it just really impressed me at, at an early age, at that, at that age of thirteen. And that, from that moment on, I was like, I wanna be like him, whatever he's doing. And it was just, he was a dentist, and not even--you know, people would think: okay, he was an orthodontist, so why didn't you wanna do orthodontist? That's because I didn't know what he was doing. All I wanted to be like was him, and they told me he was dentist, so I wanna be a dentist. And I just from that day forward trying to model myself after him, but I don't even know what he looks like or his name or anything. He doesn't even know the influence that he's had on me as well as my other partners. So I'm sure he'd get a kick out of it if he was to know that. But--$$So you don't even know if he knows--$$I know he doesn't know.$$--knows it.$$I know he doesn't know. There's no way he can know 'cause I'm, I'm sure there were so many people in his seat, and--$$Was he in a clinic or something with a lot of-$$He was working in a clinic. He was a resident in training to, to, to become a full-fledged orthodontist. So I'm sure he didn't, he doesn't remember at all. I don't even remember him, so I know he doesn't remember me.$$Okay, all right, but, yeah, that's something. So the third, third grade really opened up a whole world of things for--(simultaneous)--$$It really did, it really did. That's, I think that, that echoes the importance of, of getting to our kids young, before--you know, it's easy--you can--like I was able to deal with the realities of my community after her lessons because I never let it get me down. I never let any of that stuff get to me because I knew all I gotta do is this here, and just keep doing these assignments, keep doing what these teachers ask of me, and I'm gonna be fine despite what I see around me. All I have to do is find a way to get around the challenges that are gonna come in my way and obstacles. And if I don't get over those obstacles, and I get stopped in the middle, then that's fine too, but I had to try, and I had to see for myself if it was out there. I could say okay, well, it look like, you know, the way the odds are stacked I'm not gonna make it so I'm not gonna try. The odds were, did look like that, but I had to figure out for myself if I could do it or not. I didn't wanna be a shoulda, coulda, woulda type of person. I know that I would have been eating myself--you know, I would have been eaten alive inside if I didn't at least try to go for my dreams. I wouldn't have been able to live with that.$When you were at dental school [New Jersey Dental School in Newark, New Jersey], did, did you have the same--well, I guess you couldn't have had the same level of interaction with your two friends [HM Dr. Sampson Davis and HM Dr. Rameck Hunt] because they're in medical school.$$Yeah. The interaction definitely decreased because we were living together. And when they moved away to, to pursue their medical degrees, we were on the phone all the time. And I was up where, where they were every weekend, or they were at my place every weekend. So we talked every day and saw each other every weekend, so it was pretty much the same thing. Like, everything that I needed in terms of our support system was already on autopilot. So it just took a phone call or a visit to get these things, you know. It was already, it was already a machine, a well-oiled machine. It was just a matter of continuously keeping it well-oiled, you know, and just--it was--the principles were instilled in us to the point where they became instinctual. So a lot of that stuff we had already instilled in each other. It was just a matter of keeping each other strong to, to keep doing what they were doing so that our academic endurance holds, hold out until we get across that stage.$$Okay, now, you all had it actually--did you all formally make a pledge to each other that you would do this or--$$We, we did--we never did any sort of corny blood, we didn't cut our fingers or, or sign any contracts, but when we agreed to go to school together, from high school [University High School in Newark, New Jersey] to embark on higher education, it was so many unsaid sort of rules that were made that day. We, we knew, we, we all knew we were in the same boat where we needed, financially we needed in a number of ways. And we all had to deal with these fears about college because it was unknown, and it was pumped to us in a negative sort of life, more so than it was promoted to us in a positive light. So all of us were dealing with a lot of these things, and we realized that, after all of us sat and thought about it and talked about it, realized that none of us would be as afraid to go if we were to go together. We realized that would be a--it's gonna be hard, but it's gonna be a little easier, because when we get there, we don't have to look for a support system, find friends. We could care less if we met another a friend when you got two good buddies from high school with you. I could care less if I meet another friend. But that attitude drew people to us, so we had lots of friends outside of our circle, but I guess they saw how tight we were. But we just felt good about it. I guess it was just God's way of just working through us that time at that early age because we didn't really think about it. We just went for it, didn't have any idea how magical that union would be, and how instrumental it would be in the pushing all of us to heights that none of us thought we could make individually; that I'm just glad it happened the way it happened. You know, I'm just excited that it happened the way it happened. But it wasn't very much thought. It was really all unsaid and, and just be--maybe we said it before and didn't realize it in our conversations as we were going through high school, but we knew. When we were gonna go together, we knew we would have to have each other's back when it came to protecting each other physically, protecting each other academically, just protecting each other. And that was, each other's responsibility was to make sure--you know, it was like the buddy system when you swim at camp, you know. You, you, you, you don't go out there without at least a buddy to, to alert someone if you're having trouble in the water if they can't save you. And that's, we, we kind of created a buddy system to help us navigate through academia because it was really scary like a sea, like being stranded in the sea. You're looking around, you don't see any horizon, and you just gotta keep swimming and keep swimming until you find land. And we just decided to kind of use each other to help that go on.