Heart Association approves $3,500 towards fitness trail at Medina school
Press Release, American Heart Association
MEDINA — The American Heart Association’s Kids Heart Challenge has awarded $3,500 to Oak Orchard Elementary School in Medina for a socially distant fitness trail.
Awarded to schools across the country, the grants continue the American Heart Association’s commitment to help educators make whole-body wellness a priority.
“We are very excited about this opportunity,” said Julie Webber, principal at Oak Orchard Elementary. “Our hope is to install a fitness trail that can be used by the students during the day and also the community after school hours.”
The American Heart Association’s Kids Heart Challenge and American Heart Challenge awarded more than $400,000 to more than 180 elementary, middle and high schools who participated in either the in-school or digital programs for the 2019-2020 school year.
Kids Heart Challenge offers physical activations to get elementary students’ hearts pumping such as hoops or jumping rope paired with digital missions to learn life-saving skills like Hands-Only CPR.
The American Heart Challenge is a service-learning program for middle and high school students. The program helps boost heart health and self-esteem, while reducing stress and anxiety through programs feature dance and obstacle courses. Both program curriculums help prepare kids for success by supporting physical and emotional well-being, while offering new learning resources and physical activities to meet the needs of today’s youth and educators.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans only 20% of kids get enough activity to meet physical activity recommendations. Both the Kids Heart Challenge and American Heart Challenge are rooted in proven science which has shown that kids who are regularly active have a better chance of a healthy adulthood.
