Sunnyside middle school students are learning to prevent obesity and diabetes as a part of a $1.56 million grant from the Department of Education Carol M. White Physical Education Program.
In a partnership with the YMCA of Metropolitan Tucson and the University of Arizona nutritional sciences department, Sunnyside School District is holding activities for the five middle schools in the district to promote good nutrition and physical exercise over the next three years.
The students will also keep activity logs and work towards participating in 225 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity each week.
“The incidence of obesity has increased by three times in the last 20 years and statistics say kids get less active the older they get,” said Jennifer Reeves, associate research scientist for the UA nutritional sciences department and principal investigator for the grant.
Reeves also said that obesity and diabetes are prevalent in low-income communities and extremely high among Hispanic and African-American communities.
In preparation for the spring AIMS test, students were given water bottles. The program encourages students to stay hydrated during testing.
Program activities started in January and school employees say they have already noticed a big improvement in the students.
“Teachers have said that they have seen a definite increase in physical activity among the students and they talk about it every day,” Reeves said.“Now when they have celebrations in school they have smoothies as a snack. No more cupcakes.”
