Understanding diabetes is hard enough for adults, and South Texas Health System is making sure young students in the Valley are educated on it.

On Friday, doctors recruited by STHS spoke to 250 students from the Mission and PSJA school districts to discuss diabetes, which affects one in three people in the entire Rio Grande Valley. 

 It's really important to educate them early,” family medicine Dr. Ashley Bose said. “Those that have a family history have a higher risk and so the sooner you educate, the sooner they can prevent it, because it's so much better to prevent than to treat an illness."

Teaching these little minds about the big problems of diabetes is no easy task, so it took some creativity. The students participated in activities such as diabetes bingo 101, lessons on making healthy snacks, and indoor and outdoor exercises. 

"They're picking up this information, they're learning it, and they know what's right and what's wrong. They're going to hopefully inspire and empower their parents their grandparents to make the changes they need to do,” STHS spokesman Tom Castañeda said.