Students at Elm Street Middle School learn that what you eat matters

Published: Thursday, January 28, 2010

Staff photo by COREY PERRINE Mayor Donnalee Lozeau meets with 4-H members after a martial arts demonstration, Thursday, Jan. 21 at Elm Street Middle School. The event was part of a program called The Healthy Living Challenge supported by The Wal-Mart Foundation. The Nashua youth have been meeting for five weeks learning about healthy choices, safety techniques and other health-saving measures.

NASHUA – Like many 11-year-old boys, sixth-grader Joe Carter enjoys breakdancing, skateboarding and wrestling. Now, after five weeks of participating in Elm Street Middle School’s 4-H Healthy Living Challenge, he can now perform his favorite breakdance moves without breaking a sweat.

“It gets me going and gives me the energy to get all of my homework done. It also helps me sleep better and stops me from getting sick,” Carter said.

Carter is just one of the 14 middle school students who have pledged to make better choices when it comes to nutrition, physical activity and knowing what to do when bullying becomes an issue among classmates.

The Healthy Living Challenge is a National 4-H program supported by the Walmart Foundation Healthy Living Youth Grant in partnership with the National 4-H Council that focuses on nutrition, physical activity and safety. 4-H is a community of 6 million young people across America learning leadership, citizenship and life skills.

Once a week, for five weeks, the group of students have been meeting after school for one hour with Program Assistant Angela Delaney, of PlusTime NH AmeriCorps.

They’ve learned about healthy food choices, set their own wellness goals and have even seen a bottle of Coca-Cola boiled down to see how much sugar they consume when they drink carbonated beverages.

Because the Healthy Living Challenge also focuses on basic safety techniques, martial arts was incorporated into the curriculum. According to Delaney, it is the perfect balance: Students get physical activity while learning proper self-defense techniques.

“It’s really about teaching kids about health, fitness, nutrition and how to choose in a difficult situation if they are being bullied by someone at school,” Delaney said.

In order to teach the proper self-defense techniques needed, the Elm Street Middle School Tae Kwon Do Demo Team was formed.

Last Thursday, six students on the demo team performed for Principal Colette Valade, Nashua Mayor Donnalee Lozeau and an audience of their peers.

The group learned the eight-point block system and how to count from one to 10 in Korean.

“I love being able to see what’s happening in our community, and it’s important for the kids to see that we care about the effort that they put into programs like this,” Lozeau said.

Valade has been at Elm Street Middle School for two years and would eventually like to see the program implemented schoolwide.

“You can’t force the kids to stay after school if they don’t want to,” Valade said. “This is an after-school activity that they enjoy, they’re not being forced to do and one where they have a good time.”

The students at Elm Street do learn about healthy nutrition choices in their family and consumer science, health and gym classes, but the idea of adding a class focusing on choices like this is appealing to Valade, but finding the time to fit it in among other classes is a struggle.

“The concept of this is wonderful, and we would like to try to find the time to squeeze in a course based on the concepts these kids have learned in a short five weeks,” she added.

Middle school students are targeted for this specific program because they are at an age where they start to make their own decisions when it comes to eating.

“Middle school is the point where we start to see problematic issues. They start to make decisions on their own, and during lunchtime they have the decision to purchase something healthy or get in line for a slice of greasy pizza or other unhealthy foods,” Delaney said.

Katie Casey, an eighth-grader at Elm Street, has already started munching on celery, carrots and tomatoes for snacks over other foods she used to reach for. She also likes Tae Kwon Do because it’s “an easy activity where I don’t get all sweaty like gym class.”

The14-year-old has learned that eating her daily serving of fruits and vegetables will help lead her to a healthier lifestyle in the future.

“It’s an important part of our daily lives because if you eat healthy, you’ll live longer.”