Nearly 700 second-graders from Bismarck and Mandan gathered to learn about health and safety issues on Thursday, when St. Alexius hosted its 11th annual Fun and Health Day at the Bismarck Eagles Club.

The children went from workshop to workshop, learning about stranger awareness, fire safety, nutrition, poison safety and prevention, ATV safety and how to pack their backpacks properly.

The poison safety workshop was titled, "Everything at grandma's isn't candy."

"If we can save one kid from drinking something in the garage because they think it is Gatorade, this whole thing was worth it," said Jody Benz, director of the Center for Women at St. Alexius.

Benz said the event is geared toward second-graders because they are at an age where they become more independent and they're not always under mom and dad's thumb.

Officer Pat Renz from the Bismarck Police Department talked to the students about stranger awareness. He said now is a good time to remind the children because they learn about it when they are in kindergarten. Instead of telling them what to do, Renz asked the children what they should or would do if a stranger comes to them.

"Just because they (strangers) grab you doesn't mean they have you," Renz said. "Pull away, run away! You're small; you can crawl in spaces that big people can't get to."

Faye Schweitzer, a second-grade teacher from Lewis and Clark Elementary in Mandan, was there with her students. During one workshop her class got to drink chocolate milk and learned about nutrition.

They learned how pizza can be good for them if they have the right kind of toppings, such as pineapple for fruit and extra vegetables on top.

They even knew that French fries were bad for them.

"When done in this format, the information stays fresher in their minds," said Schweitzer. "This class is a really smart class; they have a lot of inside knowledge."

A new workshop, ATV safety, was added this year. Jake Peterson, from the North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department, explained the proper attire for riders to wear from head to toe.

Even though children are supposed to be 12 years old before they drive ATVs, many in rural areas drive at a much younger age.

Peterson said children need to be educated about safety for ATVs because young children have died in ATV accidents. He said the main cause of accidents was multiple riders on a single passenger ATV.

The Dakota Zoo even brought in a milk snake to ease the fears the students might have about snakes and how snakes are beneficial. There are eight different species of snakes in North Dakota, but only the western rattlesnake is poisonous.

The last workshop covered backpack safety. People, big or small, should only carry 15 percent of their body weight in a backpack. Some students were able to pack a backpack and then were weighed to determine if they had packed more than 15 percent of their weight.

Before they left each child received a bag from St. Alexius and each class received a bag full of books donated from Dakota Skies Bingo.

(Reach Reporter Kayla Cogdill at 250-8251 or kaylacogdill@bismarcktribune.-net.)