Wednesday, May 22, 2013

H-E-B Healthy Campus Award

Edgewood Elementary School was named as one of 12 schools in Texas to earn the title of “Healthy Campus” during the recently held
H-E-B Excellence in Education awards ceremony. The campus award was announced May 3 in Austin.

Edgewood Elementary earned recognition for its efforts to fight childhood obesity by promoting healthy food and wellness choices.

The award includes a $15,000, three-year school grant. Atkinson Elementary in Pasadena ISD and 10 other schools across Texas also won the “Healthy Campus” award and grants this year. Health Fitness Specialist Art Nevarez and Coach Todd Walstead worked on school programs that led to the state-level award.

For the past three years, Edgewood Elementary has had a Healthy Living Initiative as a school-wide goal, Nevarez said. The campus had applied for the H-E-B award due to concerns over childhood obesity rates, especially among Hispanic youth, he said. Edgewood Elementary then developed an action plan that involved students, staff, parents and community members.

“We feel that our focus on the entire community is what makes our plan special,” Nevarez said. “To date, we have used these grant funds to pay for healthy media resources and events for our students, healthy cooking classes from Chef Tim for our parents, weekly exercise classes for both staff and community members, and much more.”

Chef Tim is Tim Saddler, the founder and owner of Tim & Co. Catering. He is a former U.S. Navy cook. In his business, he focuses on “healthy foods,” and he is active with the local Oliver Foundation, which advocates on behalf of good food choices and the prevention of childhood obesity.

At Edgewood Elementary, Chef Tim presented a healthy cooking demonstration, and actually made dinner for all campus families that attended his presentation. “We are excited about the opportunities that the grant provides us to educate our students, parents and community members and to get them on a healthy living track,” Nevarez adds.

Coach Walstead noted that the grant award allows the campus to add experiences like Chef Tim’s presentation that are conducted outside the classroom.

The grant also supports Spring Branch ISD’s student-focused health fitness initiative known as K-SHAC. K-SHAC stands for Kids School Health Advisory Club, a student-led organization on many SBISD campuses that educates and promotes active healthy lifestyle and wellness choices to other students and family and community members. Edgewood Elementary School is located at 8757 Kempwood.

The school principal is Suzanne Mercado.

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