Local School Promotes Healthy Living

One local middle school is encouraging its students to have a more balanced diet and using grant money to do it.

You won’t find candy bars or potato chips in the lunch line at Rocky Mountain Middle School, but whole wheat buns and fruit cups.

“Our goal is to improve our food choices,? said school principal Shalene French. ?Maybe sample different fruits and promoting more physical activity.”

This fall the school received a $4,000 grant from the National Dairy Council’s Fuel Up to Play 60 program, sponsored by the NFL.

It’s all in an effort to promote healthier food and an active life style, which can be seen by the posters that line the cafeteria walls.

French says the money will help bring in new healthier menu items to the lunch line.

To encourage kids to eat healthier the school already now offers a ?grab and go plate? that offers items from every food group.

Now that the healthier food is available, French says the kids can make the choice.

“They are choosing to make that commitment and set some goals for themselves,” French said.

“It’s not so much as what we eat as our lack of activity,” said physical education teacher Lisa Jolley.

Jolley is using the program to help students set their own physical fitness goals and the school now offers more PE classes such as sports conditioning and aerobics.

“They are excited about the improvement they make although getting to that point is not their favorite road to take,? Jolley said.

And Fuel Up to Play 60 won’t just help the students hearts, but their brains as well.

?A student who may struggle academically, we try and make sure they are in a PE class every day because of what that does for their body and their brain and how it helps them academically,? French said.

If students earn enough points through the program they will receive a Skype visit from a Seattle Sea Hawks player.