Submitted Report
Healthy living is the goal of this edition of All Around Hays and we wanted to focus on the health of our children, too.
Children learn about healthy eating and exercise at home, as set by the examples of their family, as well as at school, through physical education and nutritious meals.
One of the outcomes of last May’s Obesity Summit was learning that about 30 percent of Hays CISD students are overweight or obese. Obesity can lead to many problems down the road, including diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
Hays CISD schools are actively working to combat the district’s obesity problem. One school’s PTA in particular has developed programs for students and their families to counteract that problem.
According to PTA member Jennifer Crosby, the PTA at Negley Elementary School in Plum Creek decided to find as many ways as possible to offer opportunities for healthy living for residents in the campus’s neighborhood. These include:
Annual 5K Run:
• Catering to students by creating grade-level brackets for male and female participants in the annual 5K.
• Making the 5K course as safe as possible, with help from more than 40 volunteers.
• Offering deep discounts for student runners who participate in the 5K.
• Inviting local cross-country teams to run in the race.
• Encouraging parents to run with their students.
• Setting a goal to increase the annual 5K participation from 34 students (2012) to 50 students (2013) and increase overall participation from 150 to over 200.
Fitness Fair:
• Inviting community businesses to participate in a Fitness Fair that shows healthy eating, fitness and wellness tips to families.
PTA group:
• Making the Health and Fitness chair a vice president position.
• Adding a fitness activity to every PTA meeting and PTA-sponsored activity.
• Creating a weekly fitness club to encourage students (with parental support) to complement the Marathon Kids program.
• Teaching students how to be athletes through these objectives: running, racing, sprinting, endurance runs, drills, stretching, water consumption, interval training, relay racing, road racing, teamwork, partner running, refueling, healthy eating, safety and tracking mileage.
• Celebrating students’ running accomplishments at an awards ceremony.
The third annual Negley PTA 5K/1K/Fitness Fair will take place March 2, 2013. The PTA will host and direct a family event to encourage healthy lifestyles, with a focus on exercise and eating foods closer to the farm. There will be a 5K and a 1K, followed by a fitness fair, where local businesses are invited to share a healthy tip.
