New Program Helps Kids Stay Healthy > Diet > Stories > Wheat Ridge

RECENT STORIES

Police blotter: Boys set fire to bag of feces ( Wheat Ridge Police Department )
Survey opportunity for Wheat Ridge residents ( Kerry Ewald )
Congratulations Wheat Ridge 4A state champs! ( Office of the Mayor )
Don’t let foodborne illness spoil the holidays ( Kodi Bryant )
My dad is weird ( Tina Myers, Denver Area Council, BSA )

share a story | more postings »

YourHub.com \\ Wheat Ridge \\ Stories \\ Health/Fitness \\ Diet

New Program Helps Kids Stay Healthy

e-mail to a friend | print this | link to this

NEXT › ‹ PREVIOUS

Contributed by: Jeffco Public Schools on 1/20/2006

Wheat Ridge, CO – Over two hundred Jefferson County school-aged children from seven elementary schools are taking big steps to improve their physical and mental well-being by participating in Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds. This innovative program, developed by the Wheat Ridge Recreation Center, with help from Jefferson County Public Schools, encourages children to stay mentally and physically healthy by exercising and eating nutritiously. "Kids today tend to be more sedentary and don’t eat as well,” said Connie Nelson, Marketing Coordinator at the Wheat Ridge Recreation Center.
The seven schools that are participating in the program are Prospect Valley, Vivien, Pennington, Kullerstrand, Stober, Wilmore Davis and Slater.
According to state health officials, twenty percent of Colorado children need to lose weight and nationally, it’s estimated that childhood obesity, which is on the rise, costs $127 million annually. “It was these alarming statistics that spurred Jefferson County Schools to help engineer Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds when the program idea was presented to us by the Wheat Ridge Recreation Center,” said Judy Cooper, Physical Education Curriculum Coordinator for Jefferson County Schools.
Studies have shown that there is a strong link between physical health and learning ability, which was another reason why Jefferson County Schools became involved in the program. Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds is a self-paced program that focuses on rewarding children for being physically active and eating healthy. Students earn points for participating in 35 minutes of daily physical activity at home, school, or at the Wheat Ridge Recreation Center.“An added component of the program is that it brings families together,” commented Nelson. Children earn additional points if a family member participates in the physical activity with them. Physical activities range from a simple walk in the neighborhood to playing in organized sports. The students, with the support of their physical education teachers, track their progress.
To promote healthy eating, local Subway restaurants have given students healthy meal coupons that are good at their stores.When the coupon is used by a participant for a healthy meal, the participant receives additional points.
At the end of the “point generation” phase of the program, which will happen February 28, students will turn in their accumulated points for prizes given by corporate and community sponsors that include Fat City, The Butterfly Pavilion, The Denver Zoo, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and Jillians.Students who earn the baseline minimum number of points will receive a party at the Wheat Ridge Recreation Center, which includes full use of the facility.
After successfully piloting the program in Spring, 2005, it was decided to incorporate the program into the 2005-2006 school year with the goal of increasing the number of participants by at least five percent.
“We’re succeeding with our goal,” said Cooper. Thanks to some dedicated physical education teachers who are vested in the program and to others, the number of participants has increased at least ten percent.
Nelson is currently looking for additional sponsors for next year’s program.For more information about being a Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds sponsor or for more information about the program, call Nelson at 303-231-1320.

[Report this as objectionable content.]

SUBMIT COMMENT

Rate the above story

Talk Back : submit comments to the story

*Note: you need to log-in to add a comment or rating.

Thank you! Your comment has been updated.

SAVE AND SHARE THIS STORY

digg	Google
del.icio.us	Yahoo!
reddit	newsvine

What is this?

STORY RSS FEEDS

All stories

All stories in Wheat Ridge

All stories by Eric Lubbers

WANT TO WRITE FOR YOURHUB.COM?

Want to see the stories you write and the photos you shoot featured in the YourHub.com Thursday print section available all over the Front Range and with home subscriptions of the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post? All you have to do is register, then post a story or column, start a blog or tell everyone what events are happening in town. We will print the best stories, columns, event listings, photos and blog entries in our print sections.

Loading Ad