Changing habits

Becoming one of 27 schools in the state to provide the program, West Jay Middle School is halfway through an eight-week challenge aimed at teaching students lifelong health and fitness.
Change the Play, a statewide pilot program sponsored by Indianapolis Colts’ quarterback Andrew Luck and Riley Hospital for Children, challenges students to improve their eating and exercise habits. It’s something West Jay has already been teaching in its physical education class curriculum but saw the incentives of the program as a way to jumpstart those who may not have been invested initially.
“It’s a lot of what we do already, and it just gave us more of a reason to emphasize it and more of a reason for the kids to buy into it,” said physical education teacher Abby Champ. “Really, everybody can be successful because I told them there’s no pre-test, there’s no post-test per se. Yes, I am evaluating as you go, but it’s not just going to be the top athletes that get chosen to go.”
The ultimate incentive comes at the end of the eight-week period when 20 students from West Jay classes participating in the program will be chosen to take a trip to Indianapolis to meet and work out with Luck at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Looking at students’ overall progression and not just their athleticism, Champ sees the incentive as a positive, even if some may see it as a scheme.
“Even if that’s what it takes, is that so wrong? These kids … they’ve got to learn to self-motivate, but hey, I’m inclined to do a little more if I’m going to meet Andrew Luck,” said Champ. “I think having a program like this out there for kids, you can look through who’s all in the program and see the variety … they’ve got a program that’s really tailored to anybody.”
That variety has kept the students interested and enthusiastic about the program, said Champ, as it’s kept the range of students, from the most athletic to the more sedentary, learning and progressing.
The program takes place four days a week, with each week presenting a different theme.
The themes range from flexibility and hydration to building muscle.
The students, in the first four weeks, have learned proper stretching techniques, how hydration affects energy and the correct way to do push-ups, squats and planks.
And with each week comes the chance to try a new healthy food, including peanut butter and banana toast, fruit pops and strawberry lemonade smoothies.
“(The ultimate goal is to) get the kids to see how much flexibility there is in everything they do,” said Champ. “So we want you to start running, that doesn’t mean you just have to go and run miles. There are a variety of ways to get you physically active.”
Principal Mike Crull, who volunteered the school for the pilot program last fall during an Indiana Association of School Principals’ meeting, has seen the difference the program has made in children’s attitudes toward physical activity.
“The kids are into it. The kids are excited about it,” said Crull. “One of them approached me, saying, ‘I didn’t think I’d enjoy P.E., but I enjoy it now.’”
Champ witnesses the same kind of enthusiasm on a daily basis.
“They’re always laughing and going through things and trying to one-up the person beside them,” said Champ. “They are that into it.”
It’s a start to what Crull hopes will become a part of students’ lives even after they are done with gym classes or the program.
And from there, he hopes it will help the community as well.
“Having that program, not only is it an incentive, it gets the community involved,” said Crull. “Kids go home and talk about what they did. It brings about in a community that sense or that knowledge that we think physical activity and healthy eating is important. And I think it spreads that word.”
But ultimately, it will be up to the students whether the program has a lasting effect. It’s an idea the school and Champ have been trying to impart on students — self-motivation.
“I think they’re seeing that correlation between I can get up and be active and not be drained the rest of the day.” said Champ. “(It shows) them that they are capable of going further, and this has so much variety and self-motivation. … Because I can sit and tell you to do something, or I can try to get you to do it, but if you don’t want to do it, you’re never going to be successful at it, in the classroom or out of the classroom, in anything you do.”[[In-content Ad]]