Reed Intermediate School Says, Game On!

Reed Intermediate School, along with assistance from Chartwells School Dining Services, is taking the lead for child health as one of the first schools to participate in a nationwide back-to-school wellness event. Community-focused and fun, this all-inclusive event, titled Game On! The Ultimate Wellness Challenge, celebrates the new school year and motivates the community to support school wellness initiatives — good nutrition and physical activity, which aid learning and curb obesity.

Orchestrated by Action for Healthy Kids, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping all kids develop lifelong habits for optimal health and learning, and the US Department of Health and Human Services, Reed Intermediate School and its students recruited friends, parents, and teachers to join them in an evening of fun and fitness. This event was been combined with the annual Reed Rally held for in-coming fifth graders and their parents.

In 1991, the Newtown schools and community received a grant to develop programs that addressed the needs of children and families. One program called “Bridges The Gap” recognized and celebrated the critical role that families, teachers, administrators, and communities play in supporting children through their transition from an elementary to a secondary school. It is now called the “Reed Rally.” Since Reed Intermediate School opened in 2003, this transition program from elementary school now takes place at Reed with incoming fifth graders and also new sixth grade students.

Chartwells School Dining Services, the company that provides the foodservice for the Newtown School District, has an ongoing partnership with Action For Healthy Kids and was a sponsor of the Action For Healthy Kids 2005 Healthy Schools Summit. Action For Healthy Kids co-chair Reginald Washington, MD, is a member of Chartwells’ Child Nutrition Advisory Council, while Chartwells’ dietitians are on the Action For Healthy Kids State Teams. Jill Patterson, Chartwells’ resident dietitian for Newtown Public Schools, is also involved with the Connecticut Action For Healthy Kids state team.

Reed Intermediate School hosted Game On! The Ultimate Wellness Challenge on the evening of September 6t at the school. The Game On! challenge course was filled with energizing activity stations, all of which are kid-tested and approved. Students were the focus as they learned healthy habits to maintain throughout the school year.

This fall, schools coast-to-coast, in every state, are taking the Game On! challenge, which will culminate with a national celebration in Washington, D.C., on October 5. National partners — the US Departments of Agriculture and Education, National PTA, and other leading organizations — and local affiliates are committed to the success of Game On! and its goal to improve students’ academic performance, achievement, and health.

“Our school district is in a unique position to influence the eating and physical activity habits of students,” said Ms Jill Patterson. “We need communitywide support to help our kids build positive, lifelong habits and Game On! The Ultimate Wellness Challenge will help us start the year off right with healthy messages and activities.”

More than nine million American children are overweight, triple the number in 1980. To curb the growing obesity epidemic, the federal Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act mandates that school districts nationwide develop and implement school wellness policies unique to each district to improve nutrition and increase physical activity by the start of the 2006-07 school year.

“Schools need not tackle child health alone. We are dedicated to providing ongoing support to help schools achieve their school wellness goals,” says Alicia Moag-Stahlberg, MS, RD, executive director of Action for Healthy Kids. “The Game On! Challenge kicks off a multiyear Campaign for School Wellness, which will bring the right people together to inspire improvements in nutrition and physical activity in our schools and lead to a much healthier generation.”         

For more information about Game On! The Ultimate Wellness Challenge across America, visit actionforhealthykids.org.

For more information about Chartwells School Dining Services, visit eatlearnlive.com.