In the past 30 years in America, childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents. To fight this epidemic, people like Michelle Obama, with her “Let’s Move” campaign have recently been taking big steps to influence one area—school lunches. Many schools nationwide have been working to offer healthier choices during their lunches and one school district in particular has recently been awarded for their efforts. On Tuesday, June 11, 2013, every school in the Walpole district received a bronze award in the HealthierUS School Challenge, in which schools all over America are praised for their excellence in nutrition and physical activity.
The HealthierUS School Challenge (HUSSC), established in 2004, recognizes schools participating in the National School Lunch Program that have promoted a healthier lifestyle among their student body. In February 2010, First Lady Michelle Obama integrated the HealthierUS School Challenge into her “Let’s Move” campaign and since then incentive awards have become available for each HUSSC award level including Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Gold Award of Distinction. As of now, HUSSC has given awards to schools in 49 states and the District of Columbia and there are 6,526 schools certified in the United States.
Since being hired in January, Maria Hall, the School Nutrition Director, has worked hard in impacting the students of Walpole. She said, “I hoped to positively influence the overall well-being and health of our students by offering a wide variety of fresh wholesome foods on our menus.”
The Walpole School District won a bronze award after fulfilling the requirements the HUSSC obliges: they serve different fruits and vegetables every day of the week, provide whole grains at least three times per week, and engage students in at least 45 minutes of physical activity per week. Additionally, the Walpole schools now offer breakfast—demonstrating the effort being made by Walpole Schools to become healthier to the HUSSC. Hall said, “In order to be considered for this award a very extensive application process was required. I had completed and submitted this application so I was confident that our school district met all the requirements necessary to receive the award.” Commended for their efforts, each school in the Walpole district received a banner, a certificate and 500 dollars in prize money that will be used for food and equipment in the nutrition program. Hall, recently informed by the United States Department of Agriculture, said, “The most exciting news for me was [hearing] we were the first District in New England to have been awarded the HealthierUS Challenge for all of it’s schools!”
Because of prominent strides forward and the collaboration of several departments and people—one being Maria Hall— the Walpole School District proved to be deserving of a bronze award in the HealthierUS School Challenge. Hall said, “I am energized by the collaboration of everyone here in Walpole including administration, staff, students and the community. The entire Walpole School Community has continuously provided me the necessary support for initiatives that positively impacted overall student and staff well-being.”
In times like now when having a healthy lifestyle is becoming more and more difficult, the Walpole Schools are certainly not letting up when it comes to pushing students all over Walpole to become and remain healthy individuals.
