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CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Valley City State University football and volleyball players helped kick off ON THE MOVE for Students which is a 4 week program that runs in March for over 900 students in Barnes County.
ON THE MOVE encourages K-grade 6 students to do at least 60 minutes of exercise on at least 5 days of the week. The elementary students learned about the commitment it takes to be on a college team.
“The VCSU athletes did a great job talking to the elementary students about good eating habits and the importance of daily physical activity,” said Andrea Winter, licensed registered dietitian at Young People’s Healthy Heart Program at CHI Mercy Health and one of the organizers for ON THE MOVE for Students. “The kids also enjoyed learning what it’s like to be on a college team and doing the warm-up exercises with the athletes.” Only 42% of children (ages 6-11) and 8% of adolescents (ages 12-19) engage in the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity most days of the week.
“Most children have recess every day and gym at least every other day,” states Sharon Buhr, licensed registered dietitian at Young People’s Healthy Heart Program at CHI Mercy Health and Barnes ON THE MOVE chairperson, “but in order to reach the daily goal of 60 minutes, they need to be active outside of school as well. We encourage parents to get involved and do physical activity with their children in the evenings and on weekends, so that it’s fun for the whole family.”
Students who complete five days of 60-minute activity earn a ‘tennis shoe’ that is hung up on the school wall each week and receive a swim pass to the Valley City Parks and Recreation Community Swimming Pool to be used this summer. All the schools have a choice of taking their students to either the Gaukler Family Wellness Center pool or the Youth Sports Complex for a culminating activity in April.
The schools participating in ON THE MOVE this year include Barnes County North, Maple Valley (Oriska and Buffalo), Litchville-Marion, St. Catherine, Jefferson and Washington Schools in Valley City.
ON THE MOVE for Students is sponsored by the Barnes ON THE MOVE Partnership (VCSU and VC Parks and Recreation are two of the 19 partners), Pizza Corner and the North Dakota Dept. of Health.
