07-08 Wellness Committee End of Year Report

Geoff Robbins

 

 

Committee Members: Amy Bacon, Sheila Giancola, Tammy Grondin, Nancy Lafleur, Kathleen Potter, Geoff Robbins

 

The Wellness Committee continues to look for new ways to promote a culture of healthy living to both the staff and students of MSAD 15. We again enjoyed a productive year. Despite limited membership, the committee was able to move forward and establish goals for the 2008-2009 school year. Listed below are the results of our work this year.

           

            * Purchased sport nutrition books for the High School library

 

            * Purchased and hung framed posters related to nutrition and living a

healthy lifestyle for both the Middle School and the Dunn School.

 

* Sarah Leavitt, High School Art Teacher, offered an Art for Wellness

program, sponsored by the Wellness Committee, and designed to

offer a healthy alternative for students rather than going home and

watching TV, playing video games or sitting at the computer. The

group met after school for approximately an hour and a

half. Each session had about five students attend.

 

* Leigh Croteau, K-2 PE teacher at Russell and Dunn, again offered

her morning walking program one day a week at each school. The

Wellness Committee continues to sponsor this program and

provide awards and other supplies for participants.

 

* Purchased three Wii game consoles, one each for the High School,

Middle School, and Dunn School, as a healthy reward choice and

alternative to food rewards in the classroom. In addition, two Dance

Revolution games and one Guitar Hero were purchased for Dunn

and the Middle School. At the Middle School we have used both

the Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero as rewards for classes and at

dances as another activity to participate in. Both have been

extremely successful.

 

* The committee has begun working with the Healthy Casco Bay

alliance on several initiatives for next year. Jim Tasse, director of

the program, and I have met several times and many of the ideas

listed above is a result of those discussions. We look forward to

continuing a productive relationship with Healthy Casco Bay.

 

The committee has decided to focus our efforts in the 2008-2009 school year on three main initiatives.

 

            * The Maine Harvest Program takes place for one day in September.

School lunch for that day will be foods locally grown and produced.

There is a short curriculum that goes along with the program that

students will take part on that day. We look forward to working

with the people from the Maine Harvest Program and Healthy

Casco Bay to make this a successful day for our students.

 

            * The 5-2-1-0 Program (5 servings of fruits and vegetables, 2 hours

or less of screen time, 1 hour of exercise, and 0 sugary drinks) is an

initiative that has begun on a limited basis at both Russell and

Memorial schools this year. We will be meeting with the leaders of

the 5-2-1-0 program on June 9^th to lay the foundation for the full

program throughout the district K-8 in the 2008-2009 school year.

This will be a major focus of the Wellness Committee during the

coming school year.

 

* Continue to develop and offer Wellness programs for adults in the

district. This had been a significant focus in past years and

something we will commit to getting back to doing in the

2008-2009 school year.

 

Our needs to complete the coming work in the 2008-2009 school year will be a commitment from each school in the district to have a representative at each Wellness Committee meeting. With such a commitment it will become more manageable to move our initiatives into the individual schools and achieve the goals we have set.