Livermore School Wins State's Top Fitness Award

CBS 5

April 21, 2010

Running laps on the track is no sweat for students at one Livermore elementary school, which has won the state's top award and a $100,000 prize for its physical fitness program.

Over the 2008-2009 school year, students at Rancho Las Positas Elementary School ran 80 miles per student on average, with the highest individual mileage clocking in at 440 miles, according to an essay submitted by the school for consideration in the competition.

Instead, students circling the track on Friday will be joined by a pair of special guests to celebrate their receipt of the Governor's Challenge physical fitness award.

Fitness expert and television personality Lorrie Sullenberger, an Ambassador to the council which sponsors the challenge, will be joined by her husband Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger III.

School principal Chris Calabrese said in a phone interview that Lorrie approached him at the ceremony announcing the award winners because "she was impressed and taken aback by the school's generosity." The school has decided to donate its prize - the $100,000 fitness center—to a school in greater need.

"Rancho Las Positas has proven to be incredibly dedicated to improving its students' health and character, as well as assisting communities in need," Lorrie Sullenberger said in a prepared statement. "They are an inspiration to other schools across the state."

An inspiration in his own right, Chesley Sullenberger is best known for piloting January 15, 2009, U.S. Airways flight 1549 to safety after a bird disabled both of its engines. He averted disaster, saving the lives of all 155 people aboard in what was dubbed by the media as the "Miracle on the Hudson."

The pair, who reside in Danville, will speak briefly at the school's Earth Day assembly Friday morning and will take part in its award-winning fitness program by running laps alongside students.

Calabrese said that Sully will run between a half-mile to a mile with fifth graders on the grassy track, which the school hopes to renovate by the end of June.

"I don't know what his stamina is like," he said. "He'll probably be able to run more than I will."

The Governor's Challenge Competition encourages state students, teachers and parents to be physically active 30 to 60 minutes per day for at least three days a week.

The prizes are not administered by the state, but by the California Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, a non-profit organization that oversees the competition. The award sponsors include Anthem Blue Cross and Kaiser Permanente, among others.

By providing comprehensive nutritional education, forming a running club and developing an athletic program that stresses team achievement and supporting others, the school snagged the top honors.

Rancho Las Positas Elementary School has been a finalist in the competition for each of the last three years, with the entire student body completing the challenge.

To be considered for the award, schools were required to submit three essays describing the school's commitment to healthy eating and physical activity as well as the community impact of a new fitness center.

Students at Rancho Las Positas are flexing their character-building muscles as well by paying forward their prize of a brand new fitness center to another school in need and finalist in the competition, Tuolumne Elementary School in Modesto.

When the school announced they would forego the prize, Calabrese said they requested it go "to a more deserving school that has also done some great fitness programs."

The council selected the Modesto school, and since then Calabrese said the two schools have developed a "really great relationship" because the students were excited to give away their prize.

"It's just what our kids do, they're very, very caring," principal Calabrese said. "They don't take it lightly."

A representative from Tuolumne Elementary could not be reached for comment.

Friday's celebration will begin at 8:45 a.m. at Rancho Las Positas Elementary School at 401 E. Jack London Boulevard in Livermore.

(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)