Seven middle school girls step, kick and spin to pop songs like “Hot N Cold” by Katy Perry. Their teacher wears a black shirt that says “Step Up” on the front and “Rock That Body” on the back. She calls out, “1, 2, 3 and 1, 2, 3, keep breathing.”
Aside from the fact that the girls are wearing their school uniforms and that the class is taking place in the school’s hallway, it could very well be a step aerobics class at an expensive gym.
This after-school program at Sierra Middle School is part of a combined effort by Sunnyside Unified School District, the University of Arizona and the Triangle Y Ranch Camp to increase physical activity in middle schools to fight rising childhood obesity rates.
“We just wanted the kids to be active,” says Jesse Espinosa, who runs a before-school program at Sierra, 5801 S. Del Moral Blvd., where kids can skateboard, mountain bike and play indoor hockey, among other activities.
Skateboards, pads, helmets, indoor hockey gear and other sporting equipment are provided by a $1.9 million U.S. Department of Education grant, which was awarded to the district in June 2008. The grant runs for three years and is now at the halfway mark.
The equipment circulates through the SUSD middle schools and returns to the Triangle Y for summer camp, says Jennifer Reeves, an associate research scientist in the nutritional sciences department at UA’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences who wrote the grant.
Students use the equipment during lunchtime and before and after school, Espinosa says.
“I like being in the step aerobics club because I get to be with my friends and work out and have fun at the same time,” says Jackelyn Torres, a Sierra student.
In addition to enjoying new activities, the students increase their physical activity, according to the UA’s study of the program.
Students in SUSD middle schools increased their moderate to vigorous physical activity rate by as much as 75 percent in the first year of the program, Reeves says.
“In healthcare terms, even a 10 percent increase is significant,” she says. “So we definitely reached our goals, well above our goals.”
The aim of the program is to increase physical activity and thereby possibly decrease the levels of childhood obesity, Reeves says.
From 2003 to 2006, U.S. children aged 12 to 19 had a 17.6 percent obesity rate, according the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rates were higher in Hispanic and black children.
Sierra Middle School is 91 percent Hispanic, similar to other SUSD middle schools.
The program also stresses good nutritional habits, says Kristel Milligan, the physical education teacher at Sierra.
Sierra offers gardening and cooking clubs for students along with the fitness programs, Milligan says. Additionally, they encourage students to teach their peers about healthy eating and physical activity, Reeves says.
Rubbi Baez, a Sierra student, says the habits she’s learning will help her for the rest of her life.
“I don’t want to be fat when I grow up,” says Baez, a member of the step aerobics group.
Although the Tucson Unified School District doesn’t have a program like SUSD’s, it tries to educate students about healthy eating habits and nutrition.
Each school is expected to teach health and physical education, says Margaret Shafer, assistant superintendent of elementary schools.
TUSD offers healthy, calorie-conscious meals in schools and gives schools the opportunity to have physical education and nutrition educators present healthy lifestyle choices to the students, says Lindsay Aguilar with TUSD food services department.
At Wakefield Middle School, junk food, sodas and even sport drinks such as Gatorade have been removed from the vending machines, says Wade McRae, principal of Wakefield, 101 W. 44th St.
Wakefield students exercise during after-school programs like basketball, flag football and dance, made possible by a federal grant that expires in 2010, says McRae.
Espinosa says he thinks nutrition and physical activity programs like the one at Sierra are important for kids.
He points out that before and after school, students are often left at home. “Parents go to work and they’re sitting there doing nothing, probably sitting and watching video games,” Espinosa says. Whereas in the morning and after school, students “can come get some kind of physical activity, get their heart rates running.”
Back at Sierra Middle School, students in the folklorico dance program are getting their hearts pumping. Three boys and eight girls spin and quickstep to traditional Hispanic music.
The young girls whirl their long, brightly-colored skirts around with delight. The students, some with faces flushed from exercise, smile as they dance to the fast-paced music.
