A group of Northwest Technical School students delivered a hip-hop-style lesson on good hygiene Wednesday to second- and third-graders at Eugene Field Elementary School.

Decked out in black sweats, hoodies and jeans, the teenagers showed off their sanitary street cred with a message about how proper hand-washing can keep children healthy by combating germs that cause H1N1 influenza and other illnesses.

"Use hot water with lots of bubbles," the technical school dance team rapped, "so you can wash away all your troubles. Listen up, yo, hear our advice. Wash your hands, or you'll pay the price."

As the dancing and singing began, a couple of "germs" in purple T-shirts -- Kamay Trueblood and Odessa Hart -- strutted across the stage, only to be cut down to size by the other rappers.

Prior to the dance routine, which the tech school group taught to the children, Eugene Field nurse Christine Allenbrand and Northwest Technical School health sciences teacher Ernema Boettner conducted question-and-answer sessions about when and why to wash hands.

Both reminded the youngsters to cough into their sleeves if they didn't have a tissue and to wash carefully after using the restroom, touching playground equipment, before eating, after touching cuts and scrapes and after using computer keyboards or other shared school equipment.

Allenbrand also suggested that the children cover their hands with a paper towel when closing water taps in a restroom and told them wash up after touching items in a store or other public place.

"Wash your hands if you've been anywhere that's really dirty or germy," she said.

"We just wanted the children to be aware how of important washing their hands is," said tech school student Trisha Conley, who is taking the school's certified nurse aid course. "We thought using hip-hop would be fun and reachable for them."

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