Got milk? People know the commercials and the advertisements, children shoving their faces with cake before realizing there’s no milk, or the beautiful celebrities sporting their milk mustaches. It’s all part of the America’s Milk Processors’ got milk? campaign, which encourages young and old to drink more milk and promotes the health benefits of drinking milk. To further promote all that milk offers, the got milk? campaign created the Healthiest Student Bodies contest, which is awarding 50 schools nationwide, including downtown’s own San Diego High School of International Studies, a $1,000 grant toward expanding or creating new health programs for their school.
“Fifteen percent of American teens are obese and another 15 are at risk of becoming obese,” said Kim Kiernan, a spokeswoman for the contest and campaign. “So it’s really important for students to be making healthy choices and staying physically active. A lot of students don’t know that studies have shown that students who drink milk tend to be leaner than those who don’t.”
SDHS International Studies is one of four schools in California to be recognized as one the nation’s healthiest student bodies.
“It’s exciting and surprising at the same time,” said Karen Wroblewski, principal for the school of international studies at SDHS.
The Healthiest Student Bodies contest ran from February to June of this year and asked students to submit an essay explaining how their school helps its students stay fit and healthy or how they would enhance nutrition and physical activities at their school, according to the Body By Milk Web site.
“A lot of schools and a lot of different classes have their students do it and then a lot of students took their own initiative and wrote about their school,” explained Kiernan.
Adam Takeda, who wrote the School of International Studies’ winning essay, said that he wrote the essay as part of a class assignment.
“At the time I probably was just doing the assignment because I had to do it,” said Takeda, explaining his surprise at winning. “I thought there are a lot of other schools out there; maybe there’s other students who presented their schools better than I did.”
Kiernan explained that more than 1,500 essays were submitted from students across the country.
“What we were looking for mostly was essays from middle school and high school students that expressed why they love their school and different things their school did to keep their students healthy,” she continued. “It’s usually a combination of physical education as well as nutrition.”
In his essay, Takeda wrote that his school supports both the physical and emotional well-being of all its students and encourages that every student join some type of physical sport. He also mentioned that since SDHS is in an urban setting, students often walk or ride their bikes to and from school, or use public transportation and walk from the bus stop.
According to Wroblewski, students learn about health issues during their advisory classes, which meet twice a week by grade level.
“The parent group for the school [Parent Connections Forum] is right now working on getting healthy lunches for the school,” she continued, “so there’s a real emphasis on physical well-being because we know the relationship between academic success and physical and social well-being.”
She explained that the parent group is working closely with the district about student access to healthier choices for lunch. However, the grant awarded will not be going toward that goal.
“One of the grade levels wants to put on a health fair,” Wroblewski said. “So they’re looking at how they can use some of the money to put on a health fair for, actually for the whole complex, where they would invite different agencies in promoting healthy lifestyles and choices and invite everybody on the complex to the fair.”
The SDHS education complex is home to five schools, including the School of International Studies as well as the school of business; Communication Investigation in a Multicultural Atmosphere (CIMA); LEADS (Learn, Explore, Achieve, Discover and Serve); Media, Visual and Performing Arts; and science and technology.
Takeda himself, now a freshman engineering major at the University of Southern California (USC), will receive a prize package including an Adidas backpack, $100 gift card to Baby Phat and Phat Farm Clothing and a yearlong subscription to Sports Illustrated and CosmoGirl! magazines.
“I mostly appreciate the fact that my old high school is getting the money to fund more physical education department and things like that,” said Takeda. “I could go without the prizes myself.”
For more information on the contest and more about milk, visit the Body By Milk interactive Web site at www.bodybymilk.com.