Somerset middle-schoolers encouraged to ‘Fuel Up’

• PHOTO: Fuel Up

These 69 students in the “Fuel Up to Play 60” program at the Somerset Middle School.

Talk about it

This year the Somerset Middle School participated in the “Fuel Up to Play 60” program.

This is a healthy eating and physical activity program created by the NFL and the Wisconsin Dairy Council. It encourages students to be creative and make long-term healthy changes in nutrition and participate in 60 minutes of physical activity each day.

On Feb. 21-22 the middle school held a “Kick Off” event during the student lunch periods to introduce them to the program. Students participated in a beach ball toss game and viewed a video. Sixty-nine students chose to participate in the program and take the pledge to register on-line and track their progress earning rewards and badges.

Each week, the student who showed the most progress on their healthy eating and physical activity point tracking was able to choose a reward from the grab bag. Rewards included footballs, basketballs, soccer balls, volleyballs and Frisbees.

Different challenge/plays were held each week during character education class. One of the challenge/plays done for healthy eating was a cheese curd and nutritious cracker taste test which challenged students to taste a variety of cheese curds and multi-grain crackers. Another was a milk and granola taste test; students were given soy, goat and other samples of milk to taste. There were definitely some scrunched up faces as they tasted some of the less popular flavors. On the other hand the granola was a big hit. The final healthy eating play called “How many can you identify?” involved sampling dried fruits. Students were introduced to Craisins (dried cranberries), apricots and dried blueberries and were asked to guess what it was that they ate.

Some of the physical activity challenge/plays were “Learning the Moves” a Hula (moola) hoop competition while wearing a yogurt mustache and an “egg & spoon” relay. The winners of these events received a gift certificate donated by Cady Cheese in Spring Valley. The final physical challenge was a mini obstacle course to be performed while carrying an inflatable Kemps cow. The winning team members of this challenge received certificates for free juice or water from the vending machine.

At the conclusion of the program we held a drawing for the life-size standup of Jordy Nelson that had been proudly standing in the school commons overseeing the activities, protecting the “Wall of Fame” and cheering on the participants. Other prizes included a beach towel and beach blanket donated by Kemps Dairy.

Though the school got a late start on the program (which usually is implemented in September) it was able to complete all six steps of the program in a short period of time. By doing this the school was rewarded with certificates, banners and the chance to apply for funding for next year’s program. The advisory team of Dawn Spafford, Susan Richardson, Debbie Stevens, Mary Jane Mielke, Lynn Harstad and Lisa Sicard are busy planning the programs and events for next year.

Tags: somerset schools, communities, education, somerset