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Hal leads Cedar Heights Elementary School students in a dance designed to get them up and moving this summer.
GREG BROWN / Courier Staff Photographer
GREG BROWN / Courier Staff Photographer
Thursday, June 2, 2005 5:07 PM CDT
Hal motivates Cedar Falls students to get active
CEDAR FALLS --- The music pulsating through the gym was motivation enough to get the Cedar Heights Elementary School students on their feet.
And when Hal --- a large, cartoonish tamarin monkey mascot --- took the stage they couldn't contain their excitement.
"Who wants to be a Hal pal?" yelled Gary Kroeger, a representative from the MUDD Group, into the crowd of students. "Who wants to eat healthy and be active?"
The students responded with yells and claps, jumping into the air.
Hal, which stands for Healthy Active Lifestyles, was introduced to the Cedar Heights students Wednesday morning in a kick-off assembly. Larry Hensley, director of the Youth Fitness and Obesity Institute, hopes to bring Hal to other elementary schools across the Cedar Valley and state to promote healthy eating and physical activity.
"We have to start small and expand. If we can get enough interest in this program we hope it will go national," Hensley said. "There is already a lot of interest in the character."
Just minutes after watching the video and meeting Hal second-graders Rachelle Fisher and Alexa Rabune were excited for a summer of activity.
"He's a good teacher to teach us about health and fitness," Rachelle said. "He teaches you not to eat fast food and play outside."
"I learned you should go outside instead of sitting on the couch," added Alexa. She said her favorite fruit is an apple.
Julie Simonson, the school's physical education teacher, believes the students will take that excitement home with them this summer then come back next year motivated to learn more.
"I hope to integrate the video and project into our physical education and healthy classes throughout the school," she said.
Healthy Active Lifestyles is one of four programs designed by the institute, which is based at the University of Northern Iowa. The programs are all geared for students from preschool to 12th grade. According to statistics provided by the institute more than 16 percent of all children are overweight and 15 percent are at risk of becoming too heavy. Obesity in children can lead to complications with blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes, similar to problems associated with adult obesity.
To get parents involved the institute sent home copies of HAL's "Get Up, Get Moving" video and a packet of information about healthy eating and physical activity home with each Cedar Heights students. While those students are the only ones who will be able to take advantage of the program this year Hensley hopes to have seasonal videos ready to roll out at other Cedar Valley schools during the upcoming school year.
"We really want to focus on the elementary level to set up that early support system for kids," Hensley said. "This project is about awareness. We want to educate these young children and create a passion in them. Then we need to focus on educating the teachers and parents."
Contact Emily Christensen at (319) 291-1482 or emily.christensen@wcfcourier.com.
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