Sierra Cascade
Regional Award Winner
Regional Award Winner
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Bella Vista Elementary submitted the following three essays for consideration of the Governor's Challenge Competition Grand Prize: Essay 1 - Commitment to Promoting Healthy Eating on Campus Studies show that nutrition is one essential factor for students to achieve their full academic potential, growth, and well-being. For these reasons, Bella Vista School is dedicated to promoting healthy eating habits and nutritional education. Our goal is to educate our students with a clear understanding of reliable health information and a message that reinforces healthy eating habits. Here are some strategies that we have implemented to motivate and empower our students to lead a healthier lifestyle: 1. Classroom parties consist of healthy foods such as vegetable trays, cheese, yogurt, and fruit. 2. Nutrition Olympics – Students incorporate fitness activities by using vegetables and fruits as part of the events. 3. Growing fresh fruits and vegetables in our school garden. 4. Serving 100% juice pops or smoothies instead of ice cream. 5. Our cafeteria serves fresh eggs, vegetables from the garden, and raw meats cooked each day instead of processed frozen meats. Side dishes are made fresh daily such as pasta salad and baked beans. 6. Students eat more salad from our salad bar because many of the fruits and vegetables come fresh from our garden. 7. Each month our students are introduced to a different fruit or vegetable by conducting a taste test, cooking, and other classroom activities. The students take home an educational family newsletter so the parents can be educated also. This program results in the students eating fresh foods they may never have eaten before. 8. The cafeteria has produced attractive wholesome breakfast foods such as yogurt and a bagel, 100% fruit parfaits, natural ingredient muffins, and fresh smoothies. 9. Fundraisers must promote a healthy lifestyle. 10. A professional nutritionist visits our classrooms and educates the students on various foods and healthy lifestyles. 11. Surveys are conducted periodically to assess lifestyle improvements. 12. We have established a Student Health Council which meets monthly to discuss ideas to improve student health and fitness. 13. Nutritional posters are on display in the cafeteria to create a healthy environment. Our Bella Vista School staff is committed to keeping our kids strong and healthy. Student attendance has improved this year as a result of our nutrition and fitness programs. Our students are happier, healthier, and genuinely feel better about themselves! Essay 2 - Support of Students’ Physical Activity and Fitness Physical fitness is crucial for maintaining a healthy mind and body. Not only does it develop muscular strength and endurance but it also sharpens the cognitive abilities needed to be successful in school. Bella Vista School is committed to helping the students be as healthy as possible and creating a fitness environment by implementing the following strategies: *The Governor’s Challenge – Being a finalist through hard work and determination. * Hiring a PE teacher to educate the students about lifelong fitness and activity. * Lunch sports for the younger students who are too young to play after school sports. * Conducting physical fitness assessments bi-annually in accordance to Fitnessgram so we can monitor our students in the healthy fitness zone. * Physical Fitness awards presented to high achievers in physical fitness. * Conducted a PE Open House where the students performed PE with their parents. * Teachers participate in physical activities with the students during recess. * The PE teacher communicated and educated the parents about the importance of physical fitness through our monthly newsletter. * Nutrition Olympics – Students incorporate fitness activities by using vegetables and fruits as part of the events. * Encouragement to join after school sports such as track and cross country has motivated students who were not confident in their skills to participate. * Our students receive intense SPARKS training that involves fitness achievement, sport skills development, and fitness enjoyment during PE. * We have established a Student Health Council which meets monthly to discuss ideas to improve student health and fitness. The staff at our school has supported the physical fitness environment 100 percent. We realize that many of these students get limited exercise at home so school is the only place where they are encouraged to participate in some kind of physical activity. Our goal is to instill the importance of physical fitness in the students so they will continue to exercise and lead a healthy lifestyle as adults. Essay 3- Need For a New Fitness Center Bella Vista is a rural community with a population of about 2500 people. There are no parks or safe facilities for our children to play or exercise. There is a major highway that runs through our small town so it is not safe for the students to ride their bikes or walk to school. Bella Vista School is the heart of our community. Our community members depend on our facilities for local functions. Many of our students are low income, come from broken homes, and are in the foster care system. Opportunities for these kids to join a gym, go to the park, or swim at a public pool are nonexistent. Our goal is to provide our students with a safe and reliable location where physical activity and exercise is an everyday part of our students’ lives. This is why Bella Vista School students would extremely benefit from a new fitness center. A new fitness center would allow us to expose our students to a whole new realm of exercise. We would be able to introduce muscle and strength building exercises with the proper equipment. This is essential in order to provide our students with a well-balanced organized fitness program. Because physical fitness is a critical part of our school’s curriculum, all classes must conduct PE but many times the gym is not available. In adverse weather, we are forced to conduct PE in a crowded classroom where movement is minimal. A new fitness center would help alleviate this overcrowding problem by giving our students another location to conduct PE. Our students were extremely motivated to win this new fitness center. It was evident by the number of kids that proudly displayed their calendars to their teachers. They went the extra mile to complete this challenge with 100% participation. The students know a new fitness center is essential but they also realize our school does not have the budget to purchase the much needed equipment. The Governor’s Challenge has given us hope that some day our students will be able to learn to lead healthy lives and engage in physical activity in the new Bella Vista School Fitness Center. |
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