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ALBANY, N.Y. (May 4, 2009) --
Students at Giffen Memorial Elementary School and Stephen and Harriet
Myers Middle School are Albany’s winners in New York State First Lady
Michelle Paige Paterson’s Healthy Steps to Albany challenge.
Mrs. Paterson launched the six-week fitness
initiative this spring for students in grades 6-8 in five cities across
New York. Nearly 270 classes from Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse
and Yonkers participated.
At Giffen, Caroline Dobson’s sixth-grade
students – Dynamic Dobson – logged more than 15 million steps to take
first place among Albany’s sixth-graders. At Myers, Cheryl Backman’s
seventh-grade class – Team Backman – logged more than 20.2 million steps
to win the city’s seventh-grade competition.
In all, students in the five cities walked
more than 1.4 billion steps during the Healthy Steps program.
“We are grateful to the first lady for
bringing this challenge to our students in the City School District of
Albany, and to students all across New York state,” said Superintendent
Eva C. Joseph, Ed.D. “As educators, we know how important good health is
to our students’ success, both in school and in life. This was an
exciting opportunity for our students, and I know they will carry this
important message forward with them.”
Healthy Steps invited teams of students in
grades 6-8 to log their minutes of activity using
the Healthy Steps Web
site, which converted various exercises into steps. Each team
tracked its step progress on a map of New York, making its way around
the state.
Winners will receive a variety of prizes,
including a healthy lunch with the Governor David Paterson and the first
lady, and a trip to a farm to learn about whole foods.
“This challenge showed our students how
easily they can incorporate physical activity and nutritious eating into
their daily lives,” Mrs. Paterson said. “As a health care professional,
I have always believed that small changes add up to big results and,
step by step, these students walked the equivalent of more than 1.4
billion steps in just six weeks. This was a low-cost way to fight the
epidemic of childhood obesity that is threatening our children’s health.
“I want to thank the
school districts and teachers who worked with us to bring this challenge
to students, and look forward to bringing Healthy Steps to Albany to
more students across New York.”
The City
School District of Albany serves approximately 8,300 students in 18
elementary, middle and high schools. In addition to neighborhood
schools, the district includes several magnet schools and programs, as
well as other innovative academic opportunities for students. The
district is more than halfway through its comprehensive facilities
project to newly build and/or renovate nearly all of its elementary and
middle schools. The ultimate goal of the facilities project is to
provide schools with the resources necessary to help students succeed in
the 21st century.
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