WASHINGTON —聽Appointing kids as wellness ambassadors and rewarding them聽with recess and relays聽are some of the ways three schools in the聽area聽won the title of America’s Healthiest Schools.
Does your child’s morning checklist include a plan for leading the classrooms’s聽play session?
It does for children聽who attend D.C.’s Seaton Elementary near Logan Circle, where students聽are named wellness ambassadors for the day.
“They’re getting their kids 150 minutes of physical education every week,” said Howell Wechsler, CEO for .
He helped聽choose the 325 winning schools. Seaton聽landed at聽gold level, along with only 14 other schools in the country. Wechsler聽said that in other schools, children get a pizza party when they do something good. “In Seaton, when kids do something good, they have a dance party, they have a kickball tournament, a relay race,” he said.
“They’re also doing聽cooking lessons for the kids. At different times, [the school]聽puts out new fruits and veggies for [the kids]聽to taste so they get accustomed to the taste … And the whole community has rallied behind it,” Wechsler聽said.
Lovettsville Elementary in Loudoun County won a silver, and Arrowhead Elementary in Prince George’s County won bronze.
The Alliance, which was created by the American Heart Association and the Clinton Foundation, has tips for how to start a community effort to make your child’s school healthier .
