By

Gilberto Herrera,   Hopewell Middle School

Play:

Community Playtime – It’s Good for Everyone

Topics:

Access to Healthy Foods, Community Involvement, Physical Activity Participation,  Teamwork

The CATCH program has grown in the last 5 years due to more activity among staff members, parents, and students on campus

How did students and adults work together as a team?

Teachers empower students who believe that health, lifetime fitness, and outdoor activity are important and have the trust to include students in the decision making process for the CATCH Family events, which take place in the Fall and Spring

How did you accomplish your goals?

Having a parent liaison assist with the decision making process of hosting CATCH family nights was beneficial. They were able to reach outlets outside of the school that staff members may not be able to connect with. The parent liaison is also beneficial because they speak highly of our school's CATCH program to our community. They also bring the community perspective, since they are also parents and bring the viewpoint of what a parent would deem as a successful program outside of school.

What improvements have you seen at your school?

For 5 years, we have seen more turnout from the community at our CATCH family Nights. We have also seen more vendors attend our Family Nights to promote their businesses to make the community aware of the importance of Health, Fitness, Sports, Activities, and Businesses outside of school. Having good turnouts for our Spring Fun Run around our school brings our school together as we spend the day promoting exercise for the day.