It has been awhile since I have posted an update to the happenings of the Health & Wellness committee. But we have been busy!

During Northwood’s Open House in April, we hosted a bicycle helmet sale for all Northwood families. Representatives from Children’s Hospital of Detroit brought in various styles and sizes of helmets that could be purchased inexpensively. The representatives fitted each helmet that was purchased. Over 50 helmets were sold which is outstanding.

A registered dietitian also from Children’s Hospital, visited all of the classrooms last Friday to speak to the students about selecting healthy drinks. The kids all had an opportunity to see how much sugar is present in all drinks including flavored milk, juices, and sports drinks. Hopefully, the kids will think twice when making drink selections in the future. A simple tidbit that the dietitian told everyone was, eat your fruit, don’t drink it. The amount of sugar in fruit juices (even those that are 100 percent juice) is often as high or higher than soda. With the significant increase if Type 2 diabetes, it is extremely important to significantly reduce the amount of sugar in our diets, especially young people. Be sure to check food labels on condiments. These are often hidden sources of high amounts of sugar.

Beginning the second week of May, we are planning on starting a noon walker program at Northwood. This program would be done once a week during the lunch recess. It is a voluntary program but we hope the students will get excited and want to participate. Each student will have a punch card. An area of the playground will be measured and each time a student goes around the designated area apunch will be given on the card. After a student has walked 5 miles, a foot charm will be given. We hope to encourage the students to get up and move during lunch. We are hoping that teachers will join the students as often as they can. Each class will be competing against each other. We would love to have a few more parent volunteers to help run this program. Please contact myself or Jen Armstrong if you are interested in volunteering.

Finally, my reign as Health & Wellness chairperson will come to an end at the end of the school year. It has been wonderful working with the kids the past 2 years with various programs that we established. There are plenty more ideas that I would have loved to have been able to implement at Northwood but just never enough time. Stepanie Gerwoll will be taking over this committee position the next two years and has many ideas of her own. I hope that you continue to support the Health & Wellness committee at Northwood.

Pat Grimes