(BSSG media release)
BILLINGS – The 14th Annual Big Sky Fit Kids program had 7,000 participants this year and recently presented statewide awards.
The two month Challenge program kicked off in February. Participant teams recorded their activity on a mileage chart. Over the course of two months the kids accumulated 154,070 miles (6.2 times around the world) and consumed 55,920 total servings of fruits and vegetables.
At the conclusion of the Challenge, two $500 awards were drawn with funds from the participants teams to be directed toward health or physical education. Pine Butte Elementary Team ‘Watson 17/18’ of Colstrip and Cayuse Prairie School ‘Grade 2 Thornburg’ of Kalispell, were selected.
One Team Improvement $500 award was drawn, at random, from teams which increased their fruit and vegetable consumption over the two month span. ‘Brorson Branders’ from Brorson School in Sidney, was the winner of the ‘Fruit and Veggies make a Difference’ drawing.
Individually, children completed the 5-2-1-0 week long challenge which consisted of kids eating 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day, limiting leisure screen time to 2 hours or less, completing 1 hour of physical activity, and drinking 0 sugary beverages per day. All successful challengers were entered into drawing at random and Tucker Cain from Forsyth Elementary won a new bike.
The last installment of the program was Fit Kids Day held April 23-May 4. Fit Kids Day was a celebration of youth fitness that encourages participating schools to plan 30 consecutive minutes of aerobic activity with 100 percent of attending student participation in one day. Fit Kids Day included 26 schools.
Two Fit Kids Day winning teams were selected from a drawing of participating schools that verified school-wide participation. The $500 winners are: Lewis & Clark Elementary School in Missoula and Emily Dickinson School in Bozeman.
