The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation (HWCF) and Discovery Education, in partnership with Sports Authority, today awarded schools in South Carolina, Arizona and Illinois with $50,000 in prizes as the winners of the 2012 Find Your Balance Challenge, a program designed to engage K-5 students in creating practical, long-term improvements in nutrition and physical activity at their school.
The Grand Prize winner from Myrtle Beach Intermediate School in Myrtle Beach, S.C., will receive $30,000 in sporting equipment and cash awards from Sports Authority for their program on the importance of balancing calories-in with calories-out. Principal Dana Penick entered on behalf of the school and recruited a Healthy Challenge Team from her fourth and fifth grade students. An entirely student-led and student-written entry, Myrtle Beach Intermediate School recognized a need for energy balance education and set a goal to increase healthy snacking and physical activity.
Integrating HWCF and Discovery Education’s Energy Balance 101 curriculum, students encouraged participation by creating an “exercise menu” and giving their peers choices for how to expend energy. The students engaged the entire community in their efforts through donations from the local Food Lion, asking parents to encourage exercise on weekends, hosting an event at the local recreation center and working with the cafeteria staff to provide more fruit and vegetable snack options. [Read more…]