Introduction: The pandemic dramatically changed societal and environmental considerations for many families. Adolescents adjusted to periods of social isolation, reductions in physical activity due to school and community wide policies, and various environmental stressors. The purpose of this investigation is to evaluate the extent to which the THINK program (Translational Health in Nutrition and Kinesiology) impacted the physical and emotional well-being of adolescents before and with the onset of the pandemic. Methodology: The THINK Program operates as a 6-week summer camp that teaches nutrition, exercise physiology, and social emotional learning to children between the ages of 11-13. Pre and post testing on the following physical measures was conducted: agility, aerobic fitness, flexibility, muscular endurance, and muscular strength. Additionally, surveys were provided to assess nutritional habits, attitudes about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), and positive youth development. Results: Data sets from 2019 (n = 36) and 2021 (n =27) were compared on the physical measures and surveys. The pre-covid group (2019) had more improvements in physical markers than the covid-onset group (2021). Additionally, both groups had similar survey results. The surveys regarding nutritional habits and positive youth development had significant increases in scores, while the STEM assessment did not. Discussion: The greater improvement of physical measures within the pre-covid group may illustrate that the onset of the pandemic could have negatively impacted the physical well-being of adolescents. This may have been attributed to the circumstantial reductions in access to physical activity with public health provisions, school closures, and social distancing.

Authors: Joseph Bonner, Carolina Velasquez, Alexis Friedman, Debbiesiu Lee, Arlette Perry