Nearly 25 million young people in the United States of America are either obese or overweight, putting this generation at risk of being the first in American history to live shorter lives than their parents. They are also more likely to suffer from illnesses such as type 2 diabetes and asthma, have social problems, and miss more school than their average weight peers.

Schools have the power to shape the lifelong health and well-being of children and adolescents, and school districts have an exciting opportunity to help schools address the childhood obesity crisis by partnering with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s Healthy Schools Program. Participation in the Healthy Schools Program is an excellent way to complement other ongoing efforts surrounding the implementation of The School District of Palm Beach County’s Wellness Promotion Policy (2.035) as well as an opportunity to be recognized nationally for their efforts.

The Alliance for a Healthier Generation was founded by the American Heart Association and the Clinton Foundation in 2005. The Alliance launched the Healthy Schools Program in February of 2006 with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The Healthy Schools Program provides tools, resources, and support to more than 22,000 schools nationwide in the following seven wellness categories that address school health improvement:

Two schools from Palm Beach County have earned a National Recognition Award from the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. The Alliance will soon recognize Everglades Elementary (Bronze level) and Forest Hill Elementary (Silver level) with the National Recognition Award for transforming their campuses into healthy places for students and staff. To earn this award, these schools worked hard to make significant changes in the areas of healthy eating, physical activity, and staff wellness by meeting or exceeding stringent standards set by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s Healthy Schools Program, to help them reverse the national trend in childhood obesity. Representatives from these schools will participate in an award ceremony in Little Rock, Arkansas.

This recognition represents all the work that these schools, the School District, and its partners are doing to make our community healthier. They join previous award recipients from Palm Beach County: Hagen Road Elementary (2010), Banyan Creek Elementary (2011), Crosspointe Elementary (2011), Berkshire Elementary (2012), South Olive Elementary (2012), Forest Hill Elementary (2013), and Manatee Elementary (2013). Forest Hill Elementary is the first school to achieve the Silver Recognition. A special thanks goes to Wellness Champions, Sharon Patelsky from Everglades Elementary and Duane Starr from Forest Hill Elementary for their efforts in leading their schools to the recognition level.

Forest Hill Elementary has made some changes to the school day that excites the students and staff alike! They began by incorporating active breaks throughout the school day, increasing recess time (always a winner) and promoting physical activities taking place within the community. To promote healthy eating and healthy choices, they started by having a nice presentation in the cafeteria serving line, daily lessons about healthy eating and the cafeteria staff prompts students to choose fruits and vegetables. To increase staff wellness, the school started doing more activities after school hours involving physical activity, the staff actively participates in recess, and works together as a whole to eat healthy and be physically active. The students and staff are on board with being physically active and want to eat healthy for the long term benefits. The staff wants to credit the Healthy Schools Program with providing helpful guidance and to add a special thanks to Kim Sandmaier and the District team for their contributions. The students all feel that no activity is long enough and they want to know, "when can we do it again, and can it be longer next time?"

In 2012, Kimberly Sandmaier, Wellness Coordinator, Risk & Benefits Management, was selected along with 17 other individuals from across the country as a Healthy Schools Program Ambassador. Healthy Schools Program Ambassadors are individuals that motivate students and staff toward healthier school environments nationwide. They are innovators in their field and make up a team of experts that improve access to healthy foods, beverages and physical activity for the schools in their communities.

In her role as a Healthy Schools Program Ambassador, Mrs. Sandmaier has had the opportunity to share her knowledge and expertise at the national and state level and represent The School District of Palm Beach County as a trailblazer in school wellness. In October 2012, she participated as a VIP panelist at the Healthy Schools Program Forum, along with Casey Cagle, Lieutenant Governor of Georgia; Dr. Lawrence Feldman, Vice Chair of the School Board of Miami-Dade County; Jennifer Cedeno and Dr. Lillian Prince, principals from school districts in New Jersey and California; and Guido Dominguz, a Youth Advisory Board Member from Miami-Dade. In November 2012, Mrs. Sandmaier represented Palm Beach on a panel of Gold-level Florida Healthy School Districts at a special session during the annual Florida Coordinated School Health Partnership meeting. In her role she also provided success stories from The School District of Palm Beach County that offered innovative and inspiring solutions that help to improve health and wellness in schools around the country.

The Alliance for a Healthier Generation and the schools and districts it supports have benefited from Kim Sandmaier’s leadership and commitment to consistently finding ways to implement program and policy changes that support good nutrition and physical activity in schools.

Every day in the United States 53 million people go to schools to either teach or learn, making America’s schools one of the most important environments in the struggle to reduce childhood obesity. Schools are powerful places to not only teach young people the academic skills they need to succeed, but also healthy life skills. Healthy students learn better, are better able to concentrate on their work, attend school on a regular basis, and perform better in class. Because of this, the Alliance for a Healthier Generation launched its Healthy Schools Program in February of 2006 with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The Program promotes a comprehensive approach by helping schools improve access to healthier foods; increase physical activity opportunities before, during and after the school day; enhance nutrition education; and establish staff wellness programs.

The goal is to have all schools in Palm Beach County participate in the Healthy Schools Program. The Healthy Schools Program offers free access to a wealth of resources and tools for schools to become a healthier place for students to learn and for staff to work. This partnership will inspire young people and their families to develop lifelong, healthy habits. Overall, it will enhance wellness efforts as well as provide a monitoring instrument to evaluate how the Program is doing. To learn more visit: http://www.healthiergeneration.org/

Thank you…Wellness Champions for your support and promotion!