Exercising a few days at home a few days each week wasn’t enough for one third grade student, so she decided to sign up for a weekly after-school fitness class.
Exercising a few days at home a few days each week wasn’t enough for one third grade student, so she decided to sign up for a weekly after-school fitness class.
Jordan Taylor is one of the 34 students ages 5 to 12 enrolled in Burnham Anthony Elementary School’s after-school Fit Class that meets every Friday for one hour after school in the lunchroom to do a variety of exercises to help stomp out obesity at a young age.
“I wanted to be in the class so I could work out and get more exercise,” said 9-year-old Taylor, who also enjoys yoga on her Wii Fit interactive video game while she’s at home.
Burnham Anthony is a small school on East 96th Street that doesn’t have a separate gymnasium and recess periods don’t come often.
“Recess is determined per school. Some schools may lack facilities or supervisory staff or have safety concerns. While we encourage schools to consider recess as an activity, as site-based managers, principals are best equipped to make this decision,” said Malon Edwards, a spokesman for Chicago Public Schools.
The class started two years ago with five students and is now at capacity. There is a waiting list to join the class. The school also opens for the class on occasional Saturdays and lets children in the neighborhood participate, said Glenn Cosey of the Youth Guidance organization that administers the class.
“We consulted with physical education teacher and went over the Body Mass Index of some of the students and also talked with their parents to select students for the class,” Cosey told the Defender. The obesity rate for children in Chicago ages 3 to 7 is 22 percent, and 28 percent for children ages 10 to 13, according to the Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children, which used 4,500 school health examination forms from children entering the public school system and schools under the Archdiocese of Chicago.
First Lady of the United States and Chicago native, Michelle Obama, launched in February the “Let’s Move!” campaign to solve the childhood obesity epidemic, and the president established the Task Force on Childhood Obesity to combat the issue.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obese youth are more likely to have risk factors for heart disease, bone and joint problems, sleep apnea, Type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis and several types of cancer, among other ailments. They are also more likely than youth of normal weight to become obese or overweight adults.
“The removal of activity from the daily school schedule, high fat/high carb food options at school, along with prolonged periods of inactive activities, namely video games and TV have paved the way for what we see today,” said cardiologist David Montgomery, M.D.
Jimmy Grover, 9, said it was his mother’s idea for him to join the class, and is glad she signed him up. His favorite television show “distracts” him from exercising, he said. “The class is fun and now I do exercise at home. I do push-ups, sit-ups and jumping jacks when I’m at home,” said Grover, a Burnham Anthony 4th grader.
The boy’s mother, Cristy Grover, said he expressed an interest in playing football, requiring him to be more active than he is. “He has to exercise more and stay conditioned if he wants to play sports,” she said.
Burnham Anthony is one of many Chicagoland schools making changes, or enhancing, existing programs to address the issue.
Hales Franciscan High School does an annual walk around the Bronzeville neighborhood its located in order to promote exercise and heighten the awareness about diabetes. It also implemented changes to its cafeteria menu at the beginning of the year, according to Shirley Spriggs, a spokeswoman for the all-boys private high school.
A south suburban elementary school district said it had plans to roll out a physical fitness plan when the new school year starts in the fall, however, state funding put the efforts on hold. In the meantime, the breakfast menu has been altered.
Greg Wright, superintendent of the Posen-Robbins School District No. 143 1/2, said the school district wants to do all it can to help diminish the childhood obesity rate, but the money isn’t there to support additional physical education.
“There’s a definite lack in our physical activity because our days are so crammed with reading and writing. We just don’t have the time to have recess on a regular basis. We simply need more funding because we are going to have more staff cuts,” said Wright.
While the district hopes for a funding solution, they’ve revised what foods the students start their day with, he said.
“Although our food providers follow state guidelines, we’ve found that having a sugar-coated donut and juice at the start of the day is just too much sugar. We told the providers they could do a better job than that,” said Wright.
Montgomery agreed.
“We set our students up for failure when the energy fuel that we give them is not conducive to high performance, like high fat foods that are low in essential nutrients. With these things, we promote unhealthy lifestyles,” the doctor said.
The students are now offered a muffin in place of the sugarcoated donuts, said Wright. CPS will also get rid of sugar-heavy breakfast items, according to the spokesman. Wright said his south suburban district may go after funds recently made available to the Cook County Department of Public Health.
The CCDPH was recently awarded a $16 million grant for obesity prevention in suburban Cook County. The Communities Putting Prevention to Work grant will support public health efforts to reduce obesity, increase physical activity, improve nutrition and decrease smoking.
“We will use the CPPW funding to promote policy changes in school, workplace and community environments to support individuals and families in their efforts to lead healthy, active lifestyles and reduce obesity and chronic disease,” said Stephen Martin Jr., chief operating officer for the CCDPH.
Copyright 2010 Chicago Defender
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