Walking Toward Wellness

Ona Wednesday morning in February while their peers are home sleeping in, about 70 gangly middle schoolers hustle through fitness stations in the gymnasium. They jump rope, sprint to and tap various cones on the floor, and weave through a course of tumbling mats.

The voluntary program, dubbed Zero Period All Sports Conditioning, is just one of the ways that New Albany-Plain Local Schools is ramping up its commitment to health and wellness. New fruit and vegetable offerings at all grade levels and an annual, district-wide 5K are among the more innovative initiatives teachers and administrators are using to engage students

Food Services

In the 28 years she’s worked for New Albany-Plain Local Schools, Cafeteria Coordinator Pam Charles has seen the district take great strides toward regularly serving more healthful foods.

The district now offers only whole grain wheat products – except for pizza crusts, and Charles is working on that – and all of its juices, including the slushies offered a couple days a week to the middle and high schoolers, are 100 percent juice with no added sugar.

After hearing about another local district that offered a fresh fruit bar, Charles implemented a similar idea at the district’s K-1 and 2-5 buildings.

“We put that on the menu this year and it’s working even better than I thought it would,” she says. Upon passing through the entrée line, students have their choice of a variety of fruits and vegetables – all of them pre-portioned. On the list of offerings are apples, carrots, celery, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, broccoli, oranges, bananas, kiwi and pineapple.

“We try to get everything out there to entice the kids to pick something up and take it,” Charles says.

State and federal mandates require the district to offer fresh fruit once a week, but New Albany offers it daily.