Philly School Officials, Students Celebrate Program To Combat Childhood Obesity
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia School District Officials joined with executives from Johnson & Johnson and ShopRite to celebrate a program in some city schools that gets kids up and active, while also teaching them the value of eating healthy.
Gathered at School District Headquarters on Tuesday, officials were joined by some of the students taking part in the Johnson & Johnson Gateway to a Healthy Community - Healthier Kids program while introducing the All Star Health Squad, which will see students teaching younger kids about developing healthy eating habits. Students taking part in the program spend about 10 - 12 minutes of their school day doing various video-guided exercises. And, according to students from Cramp Elementary, the program is a hit.
Deputy Mayor Everett Gillison - "Do you enjoy this program?"
Kids - "Yes!"
Gillison - "Do you really enjoy the program?"
Kids - "Yes!"
Coltrane Stansbury is the Gateway to a Healthy Community program lead, and he says it's a valuable tool for students, and the teachers.
"Allowing kids to exercise," he says, "getting healthy oxygen to their brain, getting them focused and ready for whatever their day entails."
Retired Philadelphia teacher Lori Bach agrees.
"It gets them up, moving, gets everything working for them," Bach says. "It gives the teachers what they call a brain break in the classroom. Like they have Language Arts in the morning, it's 90-minutes. Now these are third grade kids. You know kids can't sit still that long."
ShopRite joining the program will make more resources available to the students, and teachers.
Philadelphia is one of six cities where the Johnson & Johnson Gateway to a Healthy Community - Healthier Kids program is available.
