Central Coast
Regional Award Winner
Regional Award Winner
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Martin Luther King Jr. Academy submitted the following three essays for consideration of the Governor's Challenge Competition Grand Prize: Essay 1 - Commitment to Promoting Healthy Eating on Campus Martin Luther King Jr. Academy is an exemplary model of a healthy school. Each class participates in weekly nutrition education classes and hands on garden based learning. Through garden based learning, students are able to plant fruits and vegetables from seed, care for the plants, and harvest and eat the fruits of their labor. The school cafeteria also has a daily salad bar for students. MLK holds a bi-weekly farmers market open to the community. The produce is affordable, locally farmed, and completely organic. MLK students understand that eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables every day will promote good health and may reduce the risk of many diet related ailments. Nutrition does not end at the school salad bar. MLK enforces a strict candy ban and promotes healthy fundraisers, celebrations and snacks. Teachers also promote healthy lifestyles and serve as role models. There is a potluck salad bar in the teacher’s lounge for lunch. MLK has made the long-term commitment to nutrition through Nutrition Network classes and the school garden, which had been instituted since the school first opened. Students are encouraged to bring healthy snacks throughout the year and not solely during testing weeks. Through the garden experience, students have learned about and tasted a variety of fruits and vegetables. Last year, the fourth grade students made recipe books, which were a collection of nutritionally family recipes that featured fruits and vegetables in traditional Mexican cuisine. The experiences of the students at MLK from 3rd to 6th , the jump from good nutrition to healthy physical activity for the Governor’s Challenge was easy and natural! They have had much practice in making sound decisions based on their acquired knowledge about healthy nutrition and the importance of physical activity, and how each promote and positively impacts the other. Essay 2 - Support of Students’ Physical Activity and Fitness Through monies provided by the Carol White Physical Education Grant, MLK has embarked in a physical fitness splurge, which allowed for student involvement in physical education classes, sports, and dance. These programs have inspired students to be a part of a school-wide goal to educate young minds about the importance of exercise for their minds, bodies, and spiritual health. The physical education grant afforded the school a full time PE instructor who provides students with standards-based P.E. classes for 45 minutes once a week. SPARK curriculum gives students training in building physical strength, accuracy, and speed; practice in sports techniques; and practice in working cooperatively in team situations. The grant also provided training for all classroom teachers who would have otherwise resorted to simply providing students with a ball and little direction or structure. Activities are also engaging for students who do not have an affinity for sports. With a PE teacher, classroom teachers and an after school sports program, students very easily get their quota of 100plus minutes of weekly physical activity! Added to sports and P.E. classes, there is also plenty of rhythmic rocking and rolling at MLK! Students have the opportunity to engage in modern dance classes and folklorico dance in the after school program. Physical activity at school is critical for most of our MLK students. Coming from low-socioeconomic situations, good nutrition and physically activity is not always a priority for our families and students. Resulting in dental problems, obesity, and host of other health problems related to poor nutrition. With the education, training, and exposure to a plethora of fun physical activities at school, students are inspired to learn the importance of being physically fit and are likely to strive to make it part of their daily routine and lifestyle. Essay 3- Need For a New Fitness Center Students desperately need a safe place where they can exercise and play. Although MLK is a relatively new site, Our play and exercise area is not. Our neighboring school is in our backyard, and we share a playing field, heavily utilized by over 1000 students daily. MLK is located in the most densely populated part of Salinas, which has the highest crime rate in the county. As well as needing a place for equipment, a new fitness center would bring pride to our community! Having access to a facility geared for movement, exercise, and sports, would promote physical fitness and wellness in the following ways: give students a place equipped with proper and appropriate tools that would enhance and facilitate the practice and performance of skills, provide space for indoor sports, fitness assessment, and most of all, a place and space that is safe and free from distraction Where concentrating on fitness is the focus!. All of these reasons will enhance and promote athletics, overall physical fitness awareness, and create an exercise haven for students who would otherwise not have a place for play. An empty playing grass area that faces the main street on which the school is located would be an ideal place to build a fitness center. Students currently use this grass area and are expose to the elements which presents a health hazard. When it rains, there is no place for play. Dance has been a popular movement class at MLK, and currently these classes are being held in the multi-purpose room or outside, where there are often schedule conflicts and distractions, such as simultaneous activities or lunch set-up. A physical fitness facility would reduce or remove such problems and provide appropriate space and equipment to safely conduct dance classes. With monies from a grant, physical fitness assessment is possible. Students are given a pre-assessment and a post-assessment using the Fitnessgram model. To fully and appropriately implement such tests, a suitable, safe space where proper equipment can be stored is needed. |
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