Leaders living in the city of Ceres have united to bring the community access to healthy foods and a walking school bus (WSB) program. Prior to the implementation of the WSB, students living less than a mile away from the school would arrive to school by car. Now with the help of parent volunteers, students at Don Pedro elementary are able to spend extra time doing physical activity. The video talks about the WSB program at Don Pedro elementary. Volunteers in this program are assigned a specific route to ensure that children participating in the WSB arrive to school safe and ready to ...
The Prince George County Board of Education has decided to abolish a $50 fee, which was formerly required of high school students wanting to participate in athletics. According to an article from The Washington Post, in 2011, the board decided to charge a $50 fee to students as a way to cut back on costs. Now, in an effort to help prevent obesity, the board has decided to do away with the fee and allow middle school aged children to participate in sports like baseball, softball, basketball, and soccer. According to the Washington Post, Vice Chairman Carolyn M. Boston (District 6) said: “we heard from the community and we heard from parents who felt our obesity rate is to the point where this is what our kids need.” Changes are set to take place in August of ...
In light of Longmont's growing Latino population, the Longmont YMCA is now offering its Mind, Exercise, Nutrition, Do it! (MEND) program in Spanish. The MEND program is a 10-week healthy lifestyle program that helps overweight kids ages 7-13 and their families learn about exercise and healthier eating habits. Thanks to support from the Colorado Health Foundation, all YMCAs in Colorado offer the MEND program. For more information about this program contact the Longmont ...
On October 26, 2013, New Orleans will host its first Play Streets event. Play Streets is an event that promotes walking, cycling, skating, and various forms of physical activity on a street that will be closed-off to motor vehicles. Bike Easy is now looking for at least fifty partners to organize the event. Those interested in leading some form of physical activity during the event, should fill out the east streets partner ...
According to a news article from GoUpstate.com, School Administrators, educators, and P.E. teachers in Spartanburg County are recognizing the need to bring more physical activity to schools. In an effort to do so, in 2011, the Mary Black Foundation granted Spartanburg County elementary public schools, St. Paul's Catholic School, and Oakbrook Preparatory funds to implement the SPARK P.E. program--a program that gets kids to be fifty percent more active than what is typically required at schools. In addition to using the SPARK P.E. program, four Spartanburg County schools: O.P Earle, Houston elementary, Cleveland elementary and Hendrix elementary, are working with Project Fit America--a national organization that works with schools to get kids to be more active--to increase the total ...
SPARK (Sports, Play, and Active Recreation for Kids) works to improve the health of children, adolescents, and adults, by providing quality Physical Education programs through the SPARK curriculum. Through their evidence-based Physical Education, After School, Early Childhood, and Coordinated School Health programs, SPARK is reaching children around the country and across the globe. Curriculum materials developed by SPARK have been tested and evaluated and meet the National Association for Sport and Physical Education's (NASPE) standards for PE. In over 50 peer reviewed articles, the program has been shown to improve several health related outcomes for children. Now, according to this SPARK blog post, the Department of Defense has adopted the curriculum to be used for students in ...
According to an article from YumaSun.com, obesity levels have dropped at Gary Knox elementary by almost 10 percent, after launching an initiative to track the number of miles students walk. Since the initiative started, students logged a total of 14,371 miles as part of their Mileage Club program, which was created with help from the Yuma Regional Medical Center. Through Mileage Club program, children are encouraged to walk after lunch, during recess, and during family events hosted by the school. Children receive incentives like tokens to wear on a necklace, after reaching certain milestones. Since 2008, the Yuma Regional Medical Center has granted over $155,000 in funds to schools and non-profits in Yuma County, through the Yumans' Obesity Undermines their Health (YOUTH) ...
Florida's US Tennis Association (USTA Florida) has launched a campaign called "Tenis para Todos" to get more Latinos to play tennis.
Tenis para Todos will host one-day tennis workshops open to anyone interested in learning more about ways to reach out to Latino communities, starting August 2013 through September 2013 in Orange, Broward and Miami-Dade Counties. Through hosting these workshops organizers of Tenis para Todos hope to get more young players involved in the sport and teach pros, volunteers, and administrators how to attract and retain Latino participants in Tennis programs. Workshops will offer Spanish translation upon request. For more information, contact the USTA ...
Arlington Heights School District, located outside of Chicago IL, has begun bringing healthier options to their schools. They now offer options like poached chicken slider sandwiches, grilled zucchini chips, toasted chickpeas, and turkey meatball soup. They wish to bring these new options to their district in order to provide a healthy lunch, while giving students fun, appealing foods. Arlington Heights has been working on a trial and error basis, even having their first public tasting this summer to introduce the upcoming new menu items. Not all their healthy options have worked in the past, causing them to stop serving fish last year because students simply were not buying it. This school district is also changing it's overall offerings. By bringing in more fruit and ...
