Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2009
THE JACKSON HERALD
PAGE 9A
School News
WJIS launches program to improve health of students and staff
WORK IT OUT
West Jackson Intermediate School principal Diane Carr (left) and assistant principal
Jamie Hitzges join students during an exercise segment in a classroom.
Photo by Kerri Testement
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
HOW MANY steps do two
busy school administrators take
in one day?
Enough steps down the
hallways of West Jackson
Intermediate School to equal
several miles, according to
tracking devices.
Principal Diane Carr and
assistant principal Jamie Hitzges
are just two of the almost 50
staff members at WJIS wearing
pedometers on their waists — a
small device that monitors how
many steps they take each day.
By the end of September, all
325 students at the school will
also be given pedometers to use
during school hours.
“We’re in a competition with
each other,” joked Carr.
During the course of a day,
Carr is averaging about 13,000
steps (or about 6.5 miles).
Besides spending time walk
ing the hallways of WJIS, she
also does a three-mile “power
walk” at night. She credits her
short stature for contributing to
extra steps.
Hitzges says he’s averaging
about 10,000 steps a day —
even with daily time spent on a
treadmill.
Starting this school year,
WJIS is participating in a multi
discipline program to not only
get students healthier, but adults,
too. The program starts with
school staff members serving
as health-conscious role models
for students.
“The idea is, get the teachers
healthy, it’ll trickle down to the
students,” Carr said.
In 1999, the nonprofit group
HealthMPowers was estab
lished and it devised a coordi
nated health education program
for students in grades K through
5, their school staff and family
members.
Sponsors of the Georgia-based
program include the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention,
BlueCross BlueShield of
Georgia, Emory School of
Public Health, Children’s
Healthcare of Atlanta, Piedmont
Healthcare, Northside Hospital,
and Isakson-Bamhart.
WJIS is the first school in
the Jackson County School
System to pilot the program.
HealthMPowers serves 65
schools in 14 school districts in
Georgia, including one school
STOMP AROUND
Third grade students at West Jackson Intermediate School
stomp their feet during an exercise segment taught on a DVD.
Photo by Kerri Testement
in Barrow County.
At WJIS, the program will
include the pedometers, short
segments of exercise in the
classrooms using a closed-cir
cuit video and a special “walk”
through a body exhibit at the
school this fall.
“It’s teaching children to
make good choices about their
health, about exercise, about
food, and nutrition,” Carr said.
“(It) makes them more aware
that being healthy, and having a
healthy body helps their ability
to learn.”
Teachers and staff at WJIS
have already been logging their
steps with pedometers pro
vided by the HealthMPowers
program. They’ll also under
go a confidential health and
risk assessment this week.
The pedometers have encour
aged some healthy competition
between staff members, Can-
said.
“It’s making us conscious of
being active,” she added.
Once students get the pedom
eters in late September, they’ll
use that data for math programs.
Some students — too eager
to wait for the arrival of the
pedometers — have
already purchased
their own to start log
ging their steps, Can-
said.
In November,
HealthMPowers will
transform the school’s
gym into the “Body
Walk” — a 10-station
exhibit that allows
students to “walk
through” parts of the
body to understand its
physiology. Medical
professionals will be
inside the exhibit to
explain to students
how healthy behaviors
can keep their bodies
healthy, too.
So far, one of the
most popular aspects of the
program is the short video seg
ments that get students moving,
dancing and stretching in their
classrooms.
HealthMPowers provides
schools with DVDs, which can
be broadcast on closed-circuit
television in each classroom.
The videos contain three-to-five
minute routines showing stu
dents how to move in or near
their desks as part of an exercise
break or energy booster.
For WJIS students, the favor
ite video segment is clearly the
one featuring steps similar to a
popular dancing video game.
Students cheered when the
video started and intently fol
lowed the steps shown on the
in-classroom television.
HealthMPowers has also
provided teachers with lessons
plans that include information
about general health, nutrition,
physical activity, tobacco and
alcohol and other drug preven
tion, and injury prevention.
Lesson plans are tailored to each
grade level and follow Georgia’s
Performance Standards.
Students will also bring home
a newsletter to parents about
health-related issues and how
parents can help keep their chil
dren healthy.
But the program doesn’t
replace health education and
PE classes. WJIS will use the
HealthMPowers program dur
ing the entire 2009-2010 school
year.
“It makes them aware
throughout the (school) year,”
Hitzges said. “We’re talking
about health and making good
choices.”
By the end of the school year,
WJIS will review its success
with the program. The PTO at
WJIS is funding the program,
which costs $5 a student. The
PTO is also hoping area medi
cal offices will co-sponsor the
program, Carr said.
Northeast Georgia Health
System has also reduced the cost
for WJIS students to participate
in the Scarecrow Stampede 5K
in Hoschton on Saturday, Sept.
26, Hitzges said. Instead of pay
ing $15-20 for the event, WJIS
students only pay $5.
For more information, visit
www.healthmpowers.org.
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The Humane Society of Jackson County
The Humane
Society of
Jackson
County
PETS OF THE WEEK
For a complete listing of our animals available for adoption,
please visit our website at www.hsic.com
Please call Commerce Veterinary Hospital at
706-335-5111 tor the pets below:
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Jackson County I
Please call Jefferson Veterinary Hospital
at 706-367-5161 for these pets
Animals in Humane Society Foster Care
Call 706-367-1111
Please Don’t Litter, Spay and Neuter
Time is of the ESSENCE
Hurry to adopt one of these great pets. Please call to spare a life - call to adopt or
become a foster home. For more information, call 706-367-1111 or see a full list of our
pets on Petfinder.com under shelter and rescue groups. Adoption fee is $100.00 per
dog and $80.00 per cat - this includes their spay/neuter and all up-to-date shots.
‘Pet of the Week” is made possible by these community-minded sponsors:
5 Jackson
County
Animal
Control
A magazine celebrating the people,
places and lifestyles of Jackson County
www. living/ackson. com
706-335-FUN N
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Located at 40155 Hwy. 441 Sin Commerce -
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