Lakeview Health Announces the PowerUp School Challenge
In the coming weeks throughout the Stillwater area you might hear kids talking excitedly about peaches, green beans, and broccoli and even asking their families for more. Why? Because more than 10 schools will be launching the PowerUp School Challenge, a fun, interactive and powerful program designed to help elementary age students increase fruit, veggies and physical activity.
The PowerUp School Challenge is a comprehensive 4-week program and part of the PowerUp community initiative. PowerUp is working throughout the St. Croix Valley to make it easy, fun and popular for kids and families to eat better and be more active. “PowerUp is Lakeview’s long term commitment to helping our community work together to improve our children’s long term health prospects,” said Marna Canterbury, MS, RD, Lakeview’s Director of Health and Wellness.
At each school, the Challenge kicks off with a 45-minute, high-energy, school assembly with hundreds of students and staff led by Radio Disney. The schools will receive all the supplies they need and incentive for the kids to make the Challenge a success. Students use colorful trackers to record their fruits, veggies and physical activity for four weeks. Teachers, principals, school staff and families can all get involved as the Challenge inspires kids to eat more fruits and veggies and play actively every day. By participating, schools can also earn PowerUp Bucks that can be used to purchase supplies, equipment or resources that help improve student wellness. Results from last year’s pilot program showed that when schools participate in the Challenge, kids actually eat more fruits and vegetables. Staff at school food service reported that they ran out of veggies at lunch after the kick off.
The PowerUp School Challenge is scheduled for the following schools: Afton-Lakeland Elementary, Anderson Elementary, Lily Lake Elementary, St. Croix Catholic School, Withrow Elementary, Rutherford Elementary, Lake Elmo Elementary, Stonebridge Elementary, St. Croix Preparatory Academy and Marine Elementary. “We are delighted to have the PowerUp School Challenge return to our school to help inspire our students and staff to make healthy choices,” said Tom Hobert, principal at Afton-Lakeland Elementary. All public and private elementary schools in the Stillwater, Mahtomedi and Somerset (WI) areas are invited to be involved. Visit www.powerup4kids.org for more information.
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PowerUp is a community-wide youth health initiative to make the Valley a place where it's easy for our youth to eat well and be active! It is supported by a designated fund of the Lakeview Foundation in partnership with HealthPartners. For more information, recipes, tips and ideas on how to get involved visit www.powerup4kids.org.