Making Health a Priority: Principal Gets an "A" for Fighting Obesity

The Danville, IL school board said, "Make health a priority."

Principal Cheryl McIntire at Northeast Elementary Magnet School took that order and ran with it. Since 2006 the Principal has been working with schools to fight childhood obesity one step at a time. In the classroom teachers and students conduct physical activity where they strength their limbs or do modified versions of yoga. PE is scheduled for everyday of the school week. Students receive healthy snacks of nature's candy such as fresh fruit like strawberries.

Principal McIntire works closely with The Alliance, founded by the Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association. The Alliance partners with about 12,000 of the nation’s 99,000 elementary and secondary schools to offer best practices on making the school environment better for students. Northeast Elementary Magnet School is one of three schools to receive the Gold Award.

Students, parents, teachers and administrators are proud of their achievements. Their practices can be easily mimicked in any elementary or secondary school setting but it begins with making health a number one priority. What are some things you think you can do to start making your students healthier?

“If we can measure that we have stopped the rise of young children who are obese and chronically overweight and that it’s going back down, and if we can see a reversal in the number of young people who developed type II diabetes,” former President Bill Clinton tells Dr. Sanjay Gupta, “then I think you will see that will have enormous ramifications through the health care system.”

In the halls of Northeast Elementary, a banner announces the school’s Gold Award status, but the real impact, say administrators, is felt well beyond the campus walls.

“One of the things on our parents' survey is how excited they were about the exposure that our children have had to fruits and vegetables that they have never tasted before,” says McIntire, “and how much they’ve encouraged their parents when they’re grocery shopping to buy those things at home.”


Click here for the entire article. It's a heart healthy read!
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/16/schools-daily-pe-fresh-fruit-set-kids-on-a-healthy-path/?hpt=hp_bn6