Students at Los Alamitos Elementary (LAE) are getting healthier “step by step” thanks to the school’s Step by Step Club. Funded by a grant from the Run Seal Beach Foundation, the school’s PTA and with support from HealthCare Partners, LAE operates a daily walking/running club.
The idea for the club was conceived by LAE’s Health Clerk, Lisa Brady, who saw the need to promote daily exercise. As many as 178 students in grades 2-5 meet every day during their lunch period to walk together for 15-20 minutes. Afterwards, some students have participated in lively games of soccer and dodge ball.
The club also holds monthly meetings to learn more about maintaining a healthy lifestyle based on topics presented by HealthCare Partners, Inc. in Los Alamitos. Nutrition, reading labels, and the importance of sleep are some of the topics discussed during these meetings.
Goal-setting is also encouraged as students work towards earning t-shirts, pedometers, and monthly drawings for movie tickets, hats or gift baskets which are donated by the PTA and HealthCare Partners. Students also log in to an on-line monitoring system where they record the number of minutes they walk/run each day or the number of steps they have taken.
Tammy Buffehr, club supervisor during lunch, shared, “Best of all are the good feelings the kids have about themselves after exercising! The Step by Step Club has been an awesome addition to our school’s goal of staying healthy and is a program that we hope to continue for many years to come.”