Officials at Hopkins Elementary School hope a grant they received from the Lake Cumberland District Health Department will help motivate their children to be healthier.
The grant for $15,850 will support the school in developing a nutrition and/or physical activity program or project to be implemented in the school.
Fourth grade teacher Jennifer Coldiron said Hopkins will be using the money for a health and wellness initiative and it will give students the opportunity to take part in exercise and nutrition-type classes and activities.
“We’re especially trying to ward off obesity,” said Robin Wilson, fourth grade teacher at the school.
“Nationwide childhood obesity issues we hear about and in our own school (both) are alarming,” added Coldiron.
Shawn Crabtree, executive director of the Lake Cumberland District Health Department, noted that childhood obesity is a serious public health epidemic and that during the past four decades, obesity rates have soared among all age groups. He said since the 1970s the percentage of individuals who are overweight has tripled. Among children ages 6 to 11 that number has increased fivefold.
The executive director of the health department also said studies have shown over a 10-year period that both children and teens on average consume 110 to 165 more calories than they burn each day, which means an excess of about 10 pounds per year, per person.
“Overweight adolescents have up to an 80 percent chance of becoming overweight or obese adults,” said Crabtree. “If they are still obese in their 20s, the odds of premature death are between 50 percent to 100 percent.”
Coldiron and Wilson said all of the classes with the initiative will be available during the school day through their physical education class and during part of their recess time.
Students at Hopkins Elementary get two 30-minute sessions a week of physical education class.
However, Wilson said, once they implement the program they will use part of every recess for walking time. She said they will also screen students’ weight and height every nine weeks instead of just once a year like they had done in the past.
“Their target goals will be revealed to them in health and PE,” said Coldiron.
The grant will also address the nutrition aspect of wellness in health classes, Wilson explained, as materials that the school will be able to purchase will greatly supplement what they already have at the school.
Coldiron said the school plans to purchase the materials over the holiday break coming up and hope to have everything in place to begin the program soon after they return to school in January.
“It is our hope from the health department to inspire kids for a lifelong goal,” said Crabtree.
And since the materials will be sustainable, Wilson said, they will be able to continue the program after this year ends.
Crabtree said generally the health board shows favoritism to programs that are sustainable and if the program shows good results they can share the program with others.
“We live in one of the most unhealthy places in the world,” said Crabtree, “as the country ranks 45th in the industrial world and Kentucky is at the bottom of the nation. We’re just tired of being at the bottom.
“... We’re trying to inspire people to be creative about the issue,” added Crabtree.
Hopkins Principal Fonda Crawford said she appreciates Coldiron and Wilson for writing the grant after they saw the need. Crawford added that she appreciates the health department for reaching out to the schools.
Local News
Related Photos
-
Pictured left to right, front row, Tucker Powers, Landon Powell, Emily Vaught and Sydney Wilson, all fourth grade students; middle row, Robin Wilson, Jennifer Coldiron and Lucus Ford, teachers at Hopkins Elementary, and Natalie True, health educator at the Lake Cumberland District Health Department; back row, Fonda Crawford, principal of Hopkins Elementary, Dr. Teresa Wallace, superintendent of the Somerset School District, Shawn Crabtree, executive director of the Lake Cumberland District Health Department, Peggy Dancy, nurse supervisor at the health department, Lisa Harris, office manger at the health department, Patty Burton, health educator, and Freda Bishop, assistant principal at Hopkins Elementary. Susan Wheeldon Photo
Hopkins Elementary receives grant from health department
Local News
- Local News
-
- Congressional districts set
- Kentucky exempt from NCLB regulations
-
Survey may attract commercial passenger service
-
Hal Rogers defends Somerset’s Streetscape project
-
Somerset on verge of becoming natural gas hub
It sounds like a Buck Rogers fiction series, but it’s true. The city of Somerset is about to become the energy hub of Kentucky, maybe even regionally or nationally.
Somerset Mayor Eddie Girdler, gas company manager Dan Henderson and city engineer Reggie Chaney discussed the grandiose energy network this week with a reporter for the Commonwealth Journal. It’s more than a vision. City officials say it’s about to become reality. -
Old districts are back ... for now
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Such is the legislative redistricting debacle in Frankfort.
Judge Phillip Shepherd in Franklin Circuit Court on Tuesday tossed out the General Assembly’s controversial redistricting plans and reverted everything back to where it was before. -
Fast-moving blaze guts mobile home off Slate Branch Road
-
Big Bang Theory
Pulaski County is not at war. The booming you may hear at dusk is mock cannon fire to scare away birds.
Stuart Spillman, environmental director for the Lake Cumberland Health Department, said at least three cannons are on loan from the department to residents who want to scare away swarms of starlings and blackbirds settling in to roost.
He said a cannon is being used by a resident on Laura Lane off Ky. 39; another is in the Oak Hill Road area and a third is on Ashurst Street in the eastern part of Somerset.
Spillman said a timer on each cannon allows it to “fire” at whatever frequency is desired. The cannons must be used as the birds circle before going to roost. “After they settle in, nothing will chase them out,” Spillman said.
The Health Department doesn’t operate the cannons unless there is a specific complaint in an area where there are lots of birds, Spillman noted. He said so far this year the birds are not as bad as in the past. -
Boil water advisory is lifted countywide
The water controversy that Pulaski County has been boiling over — so to speak — for the last week is finally over.
At 10 minutes after noon Wednesday, the “boil water” advisory for the Western Pulaski Water District was lifted — almost a full week after the problems began around 1 p.m. last Thursday.
Prior to that, the Somerset Water Service — along with the other water providers in its system, including Science Hill Water, Southeastern Water, and Eubank Water — lifted their advisories, with Somerset on Saturday afternoon and the last, Southeastern, by Monday morning. Western Pulaski was the last in the system to complete sample testing for potential contaminants, due to not being able to access its Pikeville-based testing lab until Monday.
Somerset Mayor Eddie Girdler thanked the public for its patience and understanding during the duration of the boil water advisory — put in place to keep citizens from drinking water that could have been contaminated after an accident last Thursday at the water plant site — and also thanked all the city employees for their hard work during this time.
“The boil water advisory went about as well as would be expected,” said Girdler.
-
SCS to host Medal of Honor recipient
The message is clear: There are heroes. Even here in our own hometowns.
That’s the idea organizers hope to get across Saturday night at Somerset Christian School, when Congressional Medal of Honor winner Sgt. Dakota Meter speaks to all who choose to attend.
For further questions, ticket purchases, and sponsorship opportunities please contact Susan Adams at (606) 875-0255. - More Local News Headlines
Obama Scraps Birth Control Mandate
US Airmen's Killer Sentenced to Life in Germany
Navy Names Ship for Gabrielle Giffords
Raw Video: Deadly Blasts in Syria
Romney Slams President Obama at CPAC
Gingrich: Pres. Obama 'waging War on Religion'
5 Killed in Wrong-way Crash on I-10 in La.
Uzbek Man Pleads Guilty in Plot to Kill Obama
Denver's Largest-Ever Drug Bust Nets Dozens
Marines: No Punishment for Nazi-like Flag
Vets Look to Translate Military Skills Into Jobs
Raw Video: School Bus Burst Into Flames
LA School Reopens Amid Sex Abuse Scandal
$25B Settlement Reached Over Foreclosure Abuses
Pentagon: Allow Women Closer to Front Lines
LA School in Sex Abuse Scandal Reopens
Raw Video: Italy's Mount Etna Bursts Into Life
Greeks March; Angry Despite Debt Deal
Air Force Airlines: Leaders Get Polished Service
Ga Girl Fights Off Kidnapper at Walmart
