With the support of a $5,000 grant from the Highmark Foundation, Intermediate Unit 1 will build upon the exercise program established in the IU1 campus schools by a 2013 grant from the Highmark Foundation. The grant focuses on engaging students in the SPARK evidence-based physical activities during recess time.
IU1 will purchase the SPARK curriculum, the needed SPARK equipment, and supplemental outdoor equipment. SPARK is a research-based, evidence-based program identified by the Center for Disease Control as a national model for programs designed to increase physical activity and combat childhood obesity. It has been honored as an Exemplary Program of the U.S. Department of Education; and featured in the surgeon general’s report as a “school-based solution to our nation’s healthcare crisis.”
According to First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign:
Over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled, and today, nearly one in three children in America are overweight or obese. Eight to 18-year old adolescents spend an average of 7.5 hours a day using entertainment media, including: TV, computers, video games, cell phones and movies, and only one-third of high school students get the recommended levels of physical activity.
The program will be delivered to 45 elementary age students at the Colonial and East Franklin campus schools during recess on a daily basis.