Posted 1:33 am Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Health Fair Gives Students A Leg Up On Fitness, Nutrition
By LAUREN GROVER
Staff Writer
Standing among a swarm of parents, youngsters, doctors and balloons Tuesday night, Craig Cage flashed his white card lined with colorful stamps.
"Gettin' knowledge," he smiled, tapping his head.
Each stamp meant a health booth completed - including body mass index testing, scoliosis check or sampling nutritious food. He and his twin sister, Ciara, both 11, scrambled to hit each part of Tuesday's health event at Hubbard Middle School with some 70 other Tyler-area sixth-graders.
The third annual TISD Health Fair celebrated the close of Run For Your Life, a fitness and nutrition program that had sixth-graders tracking calories and trekking around their playgrounds with pedometers strapped to their ankles.
Bicycle helmet fittings and free immunizations - for measles, mumps, chicken pox, and Hepatitis A and B - were among the perks for sixth-graders and their siblings.
Staff Writer
Standing among a swarm of parents, youngsters, doctors and balloons Tuesday night, Craig Cage flashed his white card lined with colorful stamps.
"Gettin' knowledge," he smiled, tapping his head.
Each stamp meant a health booth completed - including body mass index testing, scoliosis check or sampling nutritious food. He and his twin sister, Ciara, both 11, scrambled to hit each part of Tuesday's health event at Hubbard Middle School with some 70 other Tyler-area sixth-graders.
The third annual TISD Health Fair celebrated the close of Run For Your Life, a fitness and nutrition program that had sixth-graders tracking calories and trekking around their playgrounds with pedometers strapped to their ankles.
Bicycle helmet fittings and free immunizations - for measles, mumps, chicken pox, and Hepatitis A and B - were among the perks for sixth-graders and their siblings.
Dalvin Kemp, a sixth-grader at Boulter Middle School, gets fitted for a bicycle helmet during the TISD Health Fair at Hubbard Middle School on Tuesday.
"I went around to each classroom yelling, 'Run for your life! Run for your life!'" organizer Donna Freeman said. "What do you think that means? Yes, that means there's a danger."
The crisis is that one-third of Texas' children are obese, Freeman said. Run For Your Life was meant to encourage the green veggies and skim milk of healthy foods and exercise to boot.
And it's not just for kids, she said.
"We discovered these kids don't go to the grocery and don't prepare their meals, so we really wanted parents to be here tonight," Freeman said.
The crisis is that one-third of Texas' children are obese, Freeman said. Run For Your Life was meant to encourage the green veggies and skim milk of healthy foods and exercise to boot.
And it's not just for kids, she said.
"We discovered these kids don't go to the grocery and don't prepare their meals, so we really wanted parents to be here tonight," Freeman said.
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Toy Mbonu, Craig and Ciara's mom, said she appreciated the school's effort to face obesity and has been delighted by her twins' response to the Get Fit program at Stewart Middle School.
"I go to the grocery and they ask, how much fat's in that?" she said. "This is a great way to keep them healthy."
Dr. Danielle Dolence, who managed the calcium table, said kids pick up fitness easier than nutrition.
"We asked 1,400 kids to fill out logs (for nutrition), and we found most are only drinking one glass of milk a day - that's only 300 milligrams of calcium! They need 1,300 a day," she said.
Nearby, 12-year-old Aaron Kolker wrinkled his nose at his calcium-intake results.
"It's a little low," he said. "I really don't eat a lot of dairy products, and I don't actually know why."
Kolker said not drinking milk was "a big impact," although he does like cheese.
"If you don't get enough calcium you get osteoporosis, which I think is a spine condition, or bone condition," he said. "It's really just where your bones aren't strong."
Once kids completed their Health Fair rounds, they watched the Heart Throbbers jump rope team perform breathtaking feats with synchronized hopping and a lot of stamina.
"How do they do that?" one sixth-grader said, turning to her friends.
After three weeks of pedometer measurements in PE classes, two boys and two girls from each TISD middle school received gift certificates for the most steps walked.
"I go to the grocery and they ask, how much fat's in that?" she said. "This is a great way to keep them healthy."
Dr. Danielle Dolence, who managed the calcium table, said kids pick up fitness easier than nutrition.
"We asked 1,400 kids to fill out logs (for nutrition), and we found most are only drinking one glass of milk a day - that's only 300 milligrams of calcium! They need 1,300 a day," she said.
Nearby, 12-year-old Aaron Kolker wrinkled his nose at his calcium-intake results.
"It's a little low," he said. "I really don't eat a lot of dairy products, and I don't actually know why."
Kolker said not drinking milk was "a big impact," although he does like cheese.
"If you don't get enough calcium you get osteoporosis, which I think is a spine condition, or bone condition," he said. "It's really just where your bones aren't strong."
Once kids completed their Health Fair rounds, they watched the Heart Throbbers jump rope team perform breathtaking feats with synchronized hopping and a lot of stamina.
"How do they do that?" one sixth-grader said, turning to her friends.
After three weeks of pedometer measurements in PE classes, two boys and two girls from each TISD middle school received gift certificates for the most steps walked.
Che Wvalle balances on a foam balance beam during the fair Tuesday. Wvalle is with Fit Kan Du’ a children’s health and fitness program.
Jamichael Hudson, of Hubbard Middle School, had the most steps overall with 6,600, and Lauren Dickson, of Hubbard, had the most for the girls, with 4,526 steps.
Children from the Fit Kan Du children's workout group also showed off a workout routine of theirs.
One member, Che Wvalle, 10, rolled over barriers and quick-stepped through hoops - Coach Scott Burr said he's gained speed in just one month.
"He actually works out," Sallie Wvalle said. "He wanted to lose weight, and this was the only place I could find for this kind of fitness."
The TISD Health Fair was sponsored by the Smith County Medical Society Alliance as well as other hospitals and medical groups in Tyler.
Children from the Fit Kan Du children's workout group also showed off a workout routine of theirs.
One member, Che Wvalle, 10, rolled over barriers and quick-stepped through hoops - Coach Scott Burr said he's gained speed in just one month.
"He actually works out," Sallie Wvalle said. "He wanted to lose weight, and this was the only place I could find for this kind of fitness."
The TISD Health Fair was sponsored by the Smith County Medical Society Alliance as well as other hospitals and medical groups in Tyler.
