Avalon Elementary Students run to fight obesity. Photo by Leslie Truluck

AVALON –– Over 80 children at Avalon Elementary School ran and walked around the recreational field, along with millions of children worldwide who exercised simultaneously May 7 in an effort to fight obesity.

Project All Children Exercise Simultaneously (ACES), was started in 1989 by Len Saunders, a physical education teacher from New Jersey, to promote health awareness among school children.

Originally named American Children Exercise Simultaneously, the name was altered in 1990 as the program gained popularity all over the world.

“Children need motivational fun tools to enjoy exercise,” Saunders said.

Project ACES is organized locally here by Patricia Fottrell, Avalon Elementary School’s physical education teacher.
Fottrell has taught physical education for 20 years at Avalon Elementary School and said the school has participated in Project ACES for 10 years. She said students have gym classes three to four times each week whereas other schools only require gym once a week.

Fottrell said school administration is very supportive of physical education and students work on strength, flexibility, speed and endurance by playing volley-ball, floor hockey and badminton in gym class.

Garrett Brown, 13, in the 7th grade, said he exercises about an hour everyday by playing in community ice hockey, lacrosse, basketball and baseball teams.
“We all love sports here and everyone is pretty active,” he said.

Kaitlin Bailey and Kirsten Ferguson, 4th graders, said they enjoy dancing, lacrosse, soccer, basketball and horseback riding to stay fit.

May is National Fitness Month but Avalon Elementary students are above average according to national health statistics through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Fottrell said.

The school participates in the national President’s Physical Fitness Challenge in cooperation with the Presidents Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. The challenge measures children’s physical fitness statuses based on standards set by the council to discern what percentile the kids are when compared with other kids across the nation for their age groups.

Fottrell said over half of the elementary students are in the top echelon of healthy kids of the nation and often receive the Council’s Presidential and National awards through the program.

The school received a new gym two years ago and is currently working on gaining a blacktop fitness trail around the recreation field for student and family use after school hours.

The entire school staff received free pedometers as part of a school-wide fitness program Fottrell implemented with school nurse Deborah Bossuyt.

Fottrell encourages staff to sign up to walk together during their lunch break and before or after school.
Linda Comp has taught 4th grade for 23 years and tries to walk three miles every morning.

“It’s important to get kids into the habit of exercising at an early age because they will carry it with them forever,” she said.

Contact Truluck at (609) 886-8600 Ext 24 or at: ltruluck @cmcherald.com.