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Mississippi school recognized for healthy initiatives

Recognition brings BCBS Foundation grant to enhance wellness programs

Originally published Jan. 30, 2019 by WLOX TV.

A Gulf Coast school has been honored for its commitment to healthy initiatives.

For the fifth year in a row, the Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation has offered Mississippi schools the opportunity to win up to $50,000 in grant funding through the Healthy School Awards.

Poplarville Lower Elementary School was named “The Healthiest School in Mississippi,” winning $50,000 to enhance its wellness programs. Poplarville Lower Elementary School was also named a “Healthy School” in 2018. Read More

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Austin elementary named one of nation’s healthiest schools

healthiest schools
Sumner Elementary School was named one of the nation’s healthiest schools Monday by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation.

Originally published Sept. 20, 2018 in the Post-Bulletin.

By Katie Lauer

Sumner Elementary School was named one of the nation’s healthiest schools Monday by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation.

Earning a silver award, Sumner made the list as one of only two Minnesota schools. The second was a Minneapolis community school at the bronze level. Read More

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Two Pasadena ISD schools honored for getting fit

Originally published Oct. 10, 2017  in the Houston Chronicle.

By Carissa D. Lamkahouan

Students and staff members at Red Bluff and Turner elementary schools in Pasadena ISD have been named amongst the healthiest in Texas, having earned bronze-level recognition from the nonprofit Alliance for a Healthier Generation as part of its 2017 list of America’s Healthiest Schools.

The alliance, established in 2005, considers best practices in schools, including the quality of food served, access to safe drinking water, staff health, physical education curriculum, after-school activities, parental involvement and how much recess children enjoy, said Jeannine Rios, a senior program manager in Texas for the organization.

At both Red Bluff and Turner, the physical education teachers have taken the lead, with the support of their administrators, to help children boost wellness at school and to educate the youngsters about appropriate exercise and nutrition.

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Tennessee
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Getting health, physical education into schools key to reversing troubling health trends

Originally published Aug. 28, 2017 in the Tennessean.

The health and well-being of Tennessee’s children are getting in the way of learning — a problem that foreshadows deeper economic and health struggles in the future, according to multiple experts who met in Nashville Monday.

Fusing health education and literacy into schools will be central to improving both the physical and educational well-being of Tennessee’s students, according to conversations between a wide array of health and education experts at what Dr. Richard Besser, CEO of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, called a “landmark” summit in Nashville.

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