The Colorado Education Initiative Healthy School Champions program recognized Falcon School District 49ís Woodmen Hills Elementary and Stetson Elementary with an Excellence Award and a Promising School Award, respectively. Woodmen Hills received $500 and Stetson received $300.According to the CEIís website, ìThe Healthy School Champions Program recognizes Colorado schools for their success at creating a healthy school environment, implementing effective school health efforts and demonstrating how they comprehensively address health and wellness while embedding it in their culture and systems.îKelly Baun, a fourth-grade teacher at WHES, said the school has a committee of staff, parents and students that lead activities and programs to promote health and wellness throughout the school and the community. ìSome of the things we have done in the past three or four years include using GoNoodle, an online brain-breaks activity that all teachers use,î she said. ìWe also started a morning walking club two days per week. That is free so that opens it up to all of our students. Every Wednesday and Friday mornings, we walk a mile. Students, teachers and parents join in.îBaun said her school has also started a garden club for fourth-and-fifth-graders. Twelve to 15 students will learn how to grow fruit and vegetable gardens, along with the nutritional benefits their produce brings to them. With grant money the school received, the students will be putting up hail netting around each bed as well, she said.Students also have access to hydration stations throughout the main building and in the modular unit as well, Baun said. Teachers can enjoy a water bar once per quarter ó water is infused with fruits or spices. Hot On Yoga in Colorado Springs allows staff to take free classes using their district identification, she said.ìThis is our fourth year working at creating health and wellness in the school and the third year we have applied for the Healthy School Champions award,î Baun said. ìWe have won each time we applied. The first year, we won $300 and last year, we won $500. We just keep making more and more improvements.îMatthew Monfre, physical education teacher at Stetson Elementary, said his school has also won multiple awards from the Healthy School Champions program, totaling $2,100 over the last four years. ìIt is a team effort, with the staff and administration promoting being healthy and being physically active,î Monfre said.Students at SES participate in GoNoodle and other brain-break activities, and teachers are jumping onboard with flexible seating in the classrooms, he said. ìWe have ball chairs and balance disks, and teachers try to structure their class so that students have to get up and move around the room,î Monfre said. ìThat is a key point; the students are constantly moving, not just in P.E. class or recess.îThe Fuel Up to Play 60 program is another aspect of the overall health and wellness plan the school has implemented. According to the programís website, ìFuel Up to Play 60 is an in-school nutrition and physical activity program launched by the National Dairy Council and the NFL (National Football League), in collaboration with the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), to help encourage todayís youth to lead healthier lives.îSES also has a morning walking club, after-school garden club; and provides a healthy breakfast and lunch, available to all students, Monfre said. By using a questionnaire to evaluate where the schoolís strengths and weaknesses are in the arena of health and wellness, SES can then work to improve the areas identified.ìWe have set up a school health improvement plan that is a collaborative effort by the schoolís wellness team, the staff, students, parents and the community,î Monfre said.Both Baun and Monfre said their respective schools plan to continue their efforts to bringing health and wellness to their students, staff, parents and community, which will hopefully pay off through the Healthy School Champions program in future years.
