San Diego and Imperial
Regional Award Winner
Regional Award Winner
|
|
Valley Center Primary submitted the following three essays for consideration of the Governor's Challenge Competition Grand Prize: Essay 1 - Commitment to Promoting Healthy Eating on Campus Lifestyle changes in American society are having catastrophic effects on our youth. Obesity and childhood diabetes are being diagnosed in unprecedented numbers. Valley Center Primary School’s student population of Hispanic and Native American children is being diagnosed at an even higher rate than the general public. VCPS is committed to reversing this unhealthy trend. VCPS has become a health conscious learning community. The nutritional value of lunch choices is discussed on a daily basis in every classroom. Students discuss the health benefits of each item offered and make their selection based on those discussions. Vending machines have been replaced with a never-ending fruit basket offered to students, staff, and visitors in the school office. Teachers are transforming their classroom celebrations by having parties that incorporate fun nutrition lessons and involve the students in the planning and preparation of healthy snacks. Fresh fruit and non-edible prizes are replacing cupcakes and cookies. Healthy snacks are promoted to our families through weekly classroom newsletters. Our monthly school newsletters to parents include tips to promote healthy eating. We have continued with our classroom gardens at our farm. Children are taught the process of growing food and then enjoy delicious snacks and lunches with their harvests. Our school-wide assemblies this year have had nutrition as their focus. They have ranged from BMX stunt bicyclists promoting the need for proper nutrition to an engaging marionette show extolling the benefits of eating properly. We believe that life begins with the building blocks of proper nutrition. VCPS is dedicated to promoting and supporting the health and fitness of our staff, students, and community. We believe healthy eating habits are paramount in achieving optimal mental and physical health. Our dedication to nutrition is producing stronger, healthier minds and bodies. Essay 2 - Support of Students’ Physical Activity and Fitness Valley Center Primary School is committed to our students participating in a comprehensive physical educational program that promotes the physical, mental, emotional, and social well being of every student in the pursuit of a healthy life full of promise. The San Diego Unit of CAHPERD honored VCPS this year with the Gallup/Robinson Award for conducting an exceptionally high quality program of physical education. The CAHPERD committee commended our exemplary school for our physical educational recess intervention program (targeted students learn behavior change techniques through innovative movements and manipulative skills), our school-wide Mousercise aerobic program in which our entire school community exercise together providing great role-modeling, our morning running program, our before-school “Get Fit” club, and our school implementation of the SPARK physical fitness program. All this is accomplished through the work of our dedicated staff, without the services of a PE instructor. Last summer, the VCPS staff participated in SPARK training, giving each teacher a practical, working knowledge of the state standards, as well as the skills and instructional techniques needed for the successful implementation of a high-quality physical education program. Our entire staff enthusiastically follows a monthly master PE schedule, allowing for the most effective use of our limited equipment. Our most popular fundraiser is our “Bee Buzz-a-thon”. We recently celebrated the 21st “Running of the Bees.” Children train all year for this event. The entire community is actively involved in this exciting tradition. In the late spring, we celebrate our annual “VCPS Olympics”. After yearlong training, students participate in a variety of Olympic-style events. Throughout the year, our classes participate in multicultural dances acknowledging our diversity and enjoying another form of physical activity. VCPS is proud of the positive impact our physical fitness program is having on the fitness level and overall well being of our students. Essay 3- Need For a New Fitness Center Valley Center Primary School is located in a rural agricultural farming community. Living in a rural community brings about unique problems in relation to our students’ physical activity levels. There are no sidewalks in Valley Center. There are no trails or bike lanes, leaving children with few safe places to walk or ride bikes. All our students are bussed to school, depriving them of the opportunity to walk to school. Few, if any, parks exist for community activities and enjoyment that are not connected to our schools. Our schools, therefore, are the center of our community. This community has been extremely supportive of everything asked of them through our schools. One of our recent goals has been to improve school equipment and develop a fitness center for student and community use. Unfortunately, Valley Center has been hit hard in recent years. First, our community was devastated by the wildfires of 2003, losing hundreds of homes and businesses, tens of thousands of acres of agricultural land, and tragically several lives and then again with the wildfires of 2007. Add to this the current water shortage devastating our farmers and you have a community that is financially unable to support us. To that end, we have maximized all of our school and community resources. We believe that by getting our students at the primary level on the correct healthy track both physically and mentally, they are more likely to continue in that healthy lifestyle. Our involvement in the Governor’s Fitness Challenge is just another way our school is dedicated to the whole child. Having a well-designed fitness center would be a huge step in meeting the needs of our economically challenged students and community. Choosing Valley Center Primary School as the 2008 Governor’s Fitness Challenge Grand Prize Winner is the perfect choice. |
| More Schools In The Spotlight | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Home | About Us | Sponsors & Partners | Governor's Challenge | Spotlight Awards | Activity Guide |
|
Contact Us |
News and Events |
Exercise is Medicine |
Live like a Champion |
Privacy Policy
|
|
All logos, images and related items are copyright protected © 2005 Governor's Council On Physical Fitness & Sports Designed, Developed & Mantained by Molecule Design Studios |
|