Standing up for a healthier Oklahoma
Monday, April 27, 2026
Media Contact: Sydney Trainor | OSU Brand Management | 405-744-9782 | sydney.trainor@okstate.edu
OSU’s HPNRI changing health trends through education, reaching schools statewide
In a state with the second highest death rates from heart and lower respiratory disease in the country, Oklahoma State University’s Human Performance and Nutrition Research Institute and OSU Center for Health Sciences' Project ECHO saw an opportunity to change the future starting with youth.
Launched three years ago, the Building Healthy School Communities ECHO line started as a pilot program of five Oklahoma school districts aimed at helping pre-K-12 educators to enhance student wellness, funded by a grant from the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET).
Today, it has evolved into more than 125 schools accessing evidence-based resources to equip educators with resources to improve their students' health and physical activity.
“As a land-grant university, our job is to share useful knowledge with Oklahoma’s educators, clinicians and community leaders,” said Lance Walker, Rick and Gail Muncrief HPNRI executive director. “By connecting school leaders with health and nutrition experts and resources — focusing on simple, practical skills and real-world solutions — we help schools create healthier environments for students. When we invest in students’ health today, we’re investing in Oklahoma’s future.”
Led by OSU’s Human Performance Institute in collaboration with OSU-CHS's Project ECHO and the Oklahoma State Department of Education, this is the first program of its kind, nationwide, that brings K-12 education and health care together in a hybrid platform. For the last two years ODSE and OSU have partnered as the designated Community of Practice for the Competitive Grant: High-Quality Physical Education Instruction funded by the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust.
“ECHO sessions have helped me improve my professional development more than I could imagine,” said Trase Jeffries, Fort Gibson Public School physical education teacher. “At the beginning, I didn't know what to expect from these ECHO sessions. Little to my knowledge, every session would help develop physical education teachers with a lot of different things we see daily. We have gotten to listen to a multitude of guest speakers that have bestowed their knowledge. We came into these meetings just to develop our classrooms but have left developed as even better educators.”
Through this 9-month program, school superintendents, counselors, teachers, administrators, athletic directors, coaches learn from subject matter experts taking a comprehensive approach to addressing various issues affecting students.
“Data continues to demonstrate that student wellness and academic success are closely connected," said Shana Classen, OSDE director of health and physical education. "Supporting comprehensive school health initiatives helps create stronger learners, healthier communities, and better outcomes for Oklahoma students.”
The ECHO team works with schools ranging in size from 150 to more than 5,000 students, allowing them to assess the needs and develop ways to provide resources to benefit students and educators. This ECHO prioritizes providing resources for physical and health literacy, mental and emotional health for teachers and students, improving nutrition literacy and programs, and developing and communicating health/wellness vision to schools and communities
“The most beneficial takeaway from the ECHO sessions is being able to join a community of physical education teachers to discuss situations and get advice from other teachers or HUB team to help improve,” Jeffries said. “As a younger teacher, and one without an educational background, getting advice from other people that have dealt with issues I might be going through is priceless. I walk away with great ideas that I can try to implement into my own classroom, and the best part is that it is all about finding ways of improvement for the students.”