Creston High School Students
Get SMART
Ask any Creston high school student or staff member and they’ll tell you: there’s more to being SMART than academics. SMART students also learn how to make food and physical activity choices that will help them to become healthy and to stay healthy for a lifetime.
In February, the Michigan Action for Healthy Kids Coalition (MAction For Healthy Kids) sponsored a “healthy break” at Creston to raise student awareness about the importance of eating right and being active, and to premiere a new public service announcement (PSA) that encourages kids, school staff members, and families to be “SMART” about their food and physical activity choices. The PSA was distributed to nearly 500 MAHK coalition members and aired on cable TV from February through April 2004.
Creston High School, in Grand Rapids, was one of three Michigan schools to hold an MAction For Healthy Kids-sponsored “healthy break.” Similar events were held at high schools in Dewitt and Detroit, Michigan.
Over 800 Creston High School students and staff members took part in the healthy break. During the break participants were given nutritious snacks (drinkable yogurt and dried cherries), and were encouraged to be active by dancing to the tunes of a DJ. Students also took turns signing a pledge: I pledge to be SMART, by making healthy food choices and by choosing to get up and get moving. I won’t just talk about it – I’ll BE about it!!!
Doing things to encourage kids to make smart food and physical activity choices is not new to Creston. “For the past three years, with grants from Michigan Team Nutrition and the Michigan Department of Community Health we’ve been able to do a lot of great things at Creston,” explains Amy Klinkoski, Foodservice Supervisor for Creston. So far Creston has assessed their school nutrition environment using Team Nutrition’s Changing the Scene kit and the CDC’s School Health Index, improved their cafeteria by putting up six enclosed bulletin boards for posting nutrition information, and an Eat Smart. Play Hard. awning, and conducted a milk mustache contest along with other dairy-related promotions to increase student milk consumption. “Creston has come a long way,” explains Klinkoski. “Things just keep getting better and better.”
Now that’s what I call SMART. Way to go Creston!
For more information about this successful Team Nutrition initiative, contact Amy Klinkoski, Foodservice Supervisor for Grand Rapids Public Schools at (616) 771-2135 or klinkoskia@grps.k12.mi.us.
