Spotlight - Governors Council on Physical Fitness and Sports

School In The Spotlight

Los Angeles
Regional Award Winner

NEW Academy Canoga Parksubmitted the following three essays for consideration of the Governor's Challenge Competition Grand Prize:

Essay 1 - Commitment to Promoting Healthy Eating on Campus

At NEW Academy Canoga Park, we don’t eat candy or junk food. We don’t drink soda or sugary drinks. We eat well balanced, healthy meals. Every day we are served healthy breakfasts and lunch. Everyone at NEW Academy Canoga Park receives a free breakfast and lunch. The students are taught the benefits of eating the school food, which are always prepared with healthy fresh ingredients. The students and staff all are excited to eat the well balanced meals. This year we have emphasized eating slower and enjoying a complete meal. We have ensured that there is sufficient time for students to eat complete meals and then play sports and exercise. When classes have parties, they emphasize the importance of bringing healthy food. Students can be heard on campus telling other students to eat a piece of fruit instead of chips. In April, students and staff enjoyed an A to Z salad bar. The salad bar provided opportunity to taste fruits and vegetables that they are not accustomed to eating. The students love trying new fruits and vegetables. Once a year, the students enjoy a Kids cooking contest. The students submit recipes and one student from each grade is chosen to prepare their meal in front of the school. The recipes are judged based on creativity, kid friendliness and nutritional value. The winning recipe from the contest is then prepared for the entire school to enjoy. Nutrition students from CSUN volunteered in classrooms and educated the students about the importance of eating healthy, well balanced meals. Kaiser brought an assembly to our school to emphasize the importance of healthy foods and encourage students to say no to junk food. The school replaced Powerade in the vending machines with water as well.

Essay 2 - Support of Students’ Physical Activity and Fitness

Twice a week, students, staff, and family members participate in the run club. Everyone runs around the school for approximately a mile. The students participated in the Marathon Kids program and recorded every time they completed a mile. Upon completing 26 miles, the students received a T-shirt to recognize their achievement. The students ran the final mile at UCLA, running alongside UCLA track stars. The school, students, staff, and family members, also participated in the 5k run at the Rose Bowl and in the neighborhood (Optimist Dads Day Dash). Teachers, the principal, and other staff members are constantly modeling the importance of participating in fitness activities, by running alongside the students. NEW Academy Canoga Park had the highest level of participation in the Lloyd Levine 5k Fun Fitness Challenge with over 400 students and family members participating. The families were so proud of themselves and the school community for their achievement. This year, we had our first school Olympics. Students saw the benefit of training for an event and improving in their running, shooting basketballs, and other sports. The students trained alongside the teachers and cheered each other on as they competed in the final events. Students also regularly practice yoga in their classrooms, during PE time, and in yoga club. Twice a week, students, staff, and family members gather for yoga club, improving their flexibility. Students who participate in the clubs regularly are recognized as Dolphin Athletes and receive special shirts at the school’s Success Celebration. Students who had perfect attendance to run and yoga club, received a Jamba Juice as well.

Essay 3- Need For a New Fitness Center

Our school needs conditioning and strength building equipment. The majority of our students live in apartments with multiple families living in a single residence. Therefore, they do not have space to play and get exercise. Also, many of the families do not feel that it is safe for their children to play outside because of drugs and gangs in the neighborhood. The majority of the fifth graders did not pass all aspects of the state physical fitness exam. Many students struggled with the chin ups because they do not have the upper body strength. The students also struggled with the flexibility. We currently do not have any equipment to build muscle. We have limited numbers of sport equipment and the students often get bored with using the same equipment and playing the same games. The school could benefit from climbing ropes, a ropes obstacle course, and a rock wall area. Students would be able to improve their strength as they climb the ropes, improve their dexterity as they worked on the obstacle course, and at the same time work on team building activities. Our school is always working on improving both yourself and your friends and being a positive influence on others. These resources would provide students with opportunities to set goals for themselves and work with their classmates to reach their goals. It is important for the school to increase the number of mobile activities because of the limited space within the school, but it is also important to increase variety so students continue to be excited about exercising.

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