By

Daniel Velazquez,   Lowell Elementary School

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Topics:

Community Involvement, Physical Activity Participation, Student Leadership, Success with Funds,  Teamwork

My name is Daniel Velazquez and I am the Program Advisor at Lowell Elementary. We talked at the ADCAP event. I wanted to say thank you again and share the changes we have had at our school. Our community has been motivated and have seen a change because of Fuel Up to Play 60 help. Two years ago Lowell Elementary received a grant to help make our school more healthy and active. The grant helped with two main events. The first event was a zumba/smoothie night and the second event was a bowl away diabetes night. Our zumba/smoothie night was awesome! We had over 300 people show up to dance zumba. Afterwards we celebrated with four smoothie stations full of veggies, fruits and dairy. Families were able to make healthy smoothies. We also had a smoothie bike brought out by U of A university. The event was full of energy and the students really enjoyed planning the event as well as participating with their families. Bowl away diabetes night was very fun and active. Families came out and bowled and had fun as a family. The grant helped provide scholarships for families. Students wrote essays on how they can get their families to be active and healthy, and 25 students received 5 free tickets to bowl. Getting our community involved and supporting our students in positive and active events has made our community stronger and healthier.

How did students and adults work together as a team?

Students helped develop the ideas and events for our school. As a Program Advisor, I helped support our leadership team with tools, time and help. Our students set the dates, made flyers, posters, helped set up the event and supervised it. They have made all of the difference in the world. Their main idea was that they understood that the most important essential to making our school more active and healthier was to involve parents and teachers. Creating an active community.