A new kind of fit
This fall, Homewood Middle School will be focused on giving students a lifetime of fitness. HMS received a $9,470 grant from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama to fund programs that will prevent or reduce childhood obesity.
In Homewood
Homewood City Schools Wellness Coordinator Nivada Spurlock wrote the grant with the help of HMS physical education teachers and Prevention and Development Coordinator Carissa Anthony. Spurlock said they decided to focus the grant on sixth grade because it is the first time students from different elementary schools are all together.
“We’ll further several of our schools by focusing on that one grade level,” Spurlock said.
Starting this fall, the new sixth grade PE curriculum will focus on “making fitness fun” and helping students understand the importance of different exercises. This will include an online program for students to learn at home and class time devoted to getting everyone active.
“Those kids can come in and hit the gym and immediately start training and get it,” Spurlock said. “We want to best use every minute we have with those kids to get their heart rate up.”
With the grant money, the middle school will buy new equipment such as kettlebells, free weights, pull-up stations, stability balls and plyometric boxes. Spurlock said this equipment will provide a variety of exercises and will be easy to set up and remove from the gym.
By encouraging fitness and helping middle school students understand why they do each activity, Spurlock hopes to see long-term improvements in Homewood’s obesity levels and overall fitness.
“We want to get those kids moving. We want to get them active and we want them to enjoy fitness,” Spurlock said.
Beyond Homewood
Homewood resident Irish Horton also received a grant to help his work as a physical education teacher at Hemphill Elementary in downtown Birmingham. Horton’s grant of $8,400 will go toward buying new equipment for his K-5 classes, including a model skeleton to teach children about the body and tools for flexibility, cardio and upper-body workouts. Horton also said he has been working all summer to develop new fitness curriculum which will teach sportsmanship, nutrition, discipline and easy ways to stay fit.
“In today’s society, a lot of people are overweight, a lot of kids are overweight or obese, and I feel like I can make a difference,” Horton said. “I want to be able to get our kids in tip top shape for middle school.”
Blue Cross and Blue Shield gave out 28 grants, totaling $249,513, to schools across the state for the 2014-2015 school year. Each school receives 50 percent of the money in the fall and receives the rest in January after providing proof that new health programs are in place. The grants are given to schools with health programs that emphasize exercise, nutrition and parent involvement.