Utah County Gold Medal Schools

Manila Elementary Outpaces themselves!

2011-05-23T11:42:00.003-06:00

Manila Elementary was our GMS school of the month for May. They had originally planned on walking 4,692 miles, the distance from Manila Elementary in Pleasant Grove to Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida and back. This school did such an amazing job, they not only did this once, but 3 times plus some. They actually walked over 15,000 miles. One class alone, a 5th-6th grade combination class, walked over 8,000 miles!

Great job, Manila Mustangs!!!

Northridge Elementary Walk To School Day

2010-11-30T10:03:00.002-07:00

Northridge Elementary in Orem held Walk To School on October 6, 2010. Walk to school was a fun and educational event. In the morning before students arrived, volunteers set up tables, hung posters alerting drivers that kids were walking to school and to slow down, and prepared to hand out candy and stickers for the kids that were walking to school. Volunteers were at the crosswalks as well as an Orem City Police officer, handing out stickers and candy to kids as they walked to school.

After the majority of students had gotten their candy and stickers, they proceeded to the main entrance of the school to sign their names to enter into a drawing for several different prizes, while also getting a reflective tag for their backpacks. This all was going on while Mr. Huish, the former choir pianist, was playing lively music on a piano in front of the school.

After the start of school, a volunteer and PTA member drew names for and hand out the prizes. There were over 200 kids that had entered their names into the drawing. (Prizes included pumpkins, soda, gift cards, cookies, and several bike helmets)

It was enjoyable to see many teachers, and so many kids participating in Walk To School day. This was a great Walk to School Day, and the kids learned how to be safe when walking to and from school while also having fun.

Congratulations!

2010-05-22T22:18:00.001-06:00

Congratulations to all our Gold Medal Schools who worked so hard this year to achieve their levels! Also a thank-you, thank-you, thank-you to all our great GMS mentors!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-09T10:42:00.003-07:00

GMS wants to wish all our Schools a Merry Christmas and encourage you all to use some healthy options at your Christmas parties! Some ideas we came up with might be low-fat cheese and crackers, clementines, fresh fruit dipped in dark chocolate or some yummy lowfat breads.
Have a Merry Chrismtas!

Westfield Elementary

2009-11-09T10:51:00.000-07:00

I chose to spotlight Westfield because they have been very creative and enthusiastic with their Gold Medal Mile theme this year which is to walk around the equator. The school coordinator assigned a country that the school would be walking through to each classroom and asked them to make a poster about that country. She then took the posters and hung them all around the cafeteria. I thought this was a great way to get the kids and teachers more involved in the theme and get them excited about where they will be walking. It is also a fun way to give the students a visual way to see what country they are in and where they will be headed to next. The school and school coordinator have done a great job of bringing their GMM theme to life this year.
GMS Mentor: Hawley Layton

Orem Elementary Celebrates Red Ribbon Week!

2009-10-19T14:04:00.003-06:00

Orem Elementary kicked off Red Ribbon Week with an assembly by Steve James. Student's learned songs by Steve for the Prevention Dimensions program and sang them for each other during the assembly.
Students also participated in essay contests, lunch time activities, a canned food drive, theme days ("Living drug free is no sweat') and they signed a pledge to be drug and violence free!
Way to go Orem Elementary!

Riverview Elementary get's November's School of the Month!!

2009-09-25T13:54:00.001-06:00

This year, Riverview is going for the Gold. Last year, they walked all over the world visiting different places and all the while spelling out “RIVERVIEW.” Now their focus is more on nutrition, and instead of walking to a certain place, they will walk to a set-mile goal: 55,000 miles. Once they reach that, their principal, Mrs. Jarvis, will wear a strawberry costume to a whole day of school!

On Monday, September 14th, Riverview kicked off the year with a Gold Medal Schools opening assembly in conjunction with Green Ribbon Week. Super Safety Woman and Nutrition Girl came to the assembly to host a trivia game all about being healthy and safe. A few students from each grade participated in answering the questions or took part in the physical challenges. That day, the principal also encouraged all of the teachers to take the students out to walk the mile as part of the assembly. Other activities for Green Ribbon Week included: a wear green day, “watch your step day” (wear mismatched shoes), and a walk to school day (Flash Fox came to be the cross guard).

Another component of Riverview’s year will be implementing nutrition classes for each of the grade levels. In conjunction with the health department, Riverview will provide monthly nutrition education presentations (10-15 minutes long) about one of the food groups and will maybe even bring in samples of foods for the students to try. Thanks to a supportive principal, staff and coordinator, Riverview has a great year to look forward to.
Congratulations Riverview! Their story will be posted on Gold Medal Schools Website under GMS of the month!

GMS welcomes Spring Creek!

2009-09-08T09:40:00.002-06:00

This is Spring Creeks first year in the Gold Medal Schools Program and they're off to a great start! They held their kick off assembly September 4th and had Hootz the Owl and 2 Orem Owlz players come talk to the kids about the importance of staying healthy. The kids were so excited to walk their first Gold Medal Mile with their guest speakers. Keep up the good work Spring Creek!

Meadow Elementary kicks off another great year!

2009-09-03T14:46:00.002-06:00

Meadow Elementary held their kick-off assembly this past week which included a cute skit preformed by the student council. They introduced this year's Gold Medal Mile goal of walking around the world followed by their first lap around the soccer field. The kids were excited to start working towards their goal!

Annual Training a Success!

2009-08-26T11:30:00.005-06:00

Thanks to all of you who joined us for the Annual GMS training! All the information is now available on the GMS website at www.hearthighway.org/gms... if there were some ideas you wanted to take another look at or for those who weren't able to make the trainining...all the information is on the website under information for GMS.
Thanks again for coming and let's make a 'SPLASH' this year with GMS!

Ready for another great year!

2009-07-16T15:54:00.002-06:00

With the school year fast approaching GMS is gearing up for another great year in Utah County! Our annual training for all mentors, school coordinators and principals is coming up on August 13th from 10am-12pm. This year the training will be held at the Utah County Health Department in room 2800. Come ready to learn about the 5 different levels and get great, fun ideas for achieving your levels!
If you have any questions contact Kari Schmidt at 801-851-7082

An article from the Spanish Fork News....

2009-05-30T17:03:00.000-06:00

Spanish Oaks and Riverview Elementary schools both received awards recently from Gold Medal Schools, a statewide program that encourages physical activity and good nutrition. In its first year participating in the program, Spanish Oaks received a bronze medal on Wednesday, May 20. Riverview just completed their second year in the program and received a silver medal on Thursday, May 21. As schools continue to improve each year, they can continue to receive gold and platinum medals.Among other healthy initiatives this year, Spanish Oaks wrote a policy to provide each student in grades one through six with 90–150 minutes of "structured physical activity" every week. The goal for kindergartners was 45–90 minutes each week. This required teachers to come up with an extra 30 minutes a week of physical activities for their students to do in addition to recess. The school also establishment a "Gold Medal Mile," a course that the students could walk or run to tally up their miles. Chelsea Bishop, a Utah County Gold Medal Schools mentor, presented the award to Principal RaShel Tingey and the school's health coordinator, DeAnn Carter. Bishop said Spanish Oaks students recorded 28,838 total miles walked or run as a school. The winning class was Miss Stirland's class, who received a set of new dodgeballs. The school also received $200 for their efforts.Among their goals for the Gold Medal Schools program, Riverview held a walk-a-thon in September and participated in Green Ribbon Week, a national health campaign. They established a school health council, which met regularly to discuss ways to make the school healthier, and the faculty and staff established a wellness program which included a staff walking club.Students at Riverview walked and ran a total of 53,323 miles. The winning class was Mrs. Bundy's fifth grade class, who recorded over 8,000 miles. Ginny DiRaimo is the school's health coordinator and Sandra Jarvis is the principal.Riverview used the $200 their received from Gold Medal Schools last year and matched it with a grant from the Nebo Education Foundation to buy more PE equipment. This year, in conjunction with their silver medal, they received $300 from GMS.

Pat Nielson of Hillcrest Elementary

2009-05-14T12:43:00.001-06:00

"Pat has been so great this year, and has made being a mentor for Hillcrest so easy. She always returns my calls and e-mails and is very easy to work with. She quickly provides any information needed and has great ideas of what will help her school the most. She also supports and promotes the GMS program within Hillcrest and works closely with the principal and all the teachers to make GMS work as well as it can. She is fun to work with and is such a nice person! "
Mentor: Hawley Layton

Lisa Watters of Deerfield Elementary

2009-05-12T13:47:00.001-06:00

"This was my first year as a mentor and Lisa was one of the coordinators that made it extremely easy for me to see how this program works. When I met her, she already had the ball rolling on the theme for the year. She even had a 100 mile club for the students to reach for. Despite her busy schedule, she was easy to get a hold of and I never had to ask her more than once for anything. She is very personable and I always felt very welcomed by her when I visited the school. When I would go to the school and walk with the students at lunch, she would make an announcement to the whole school that I was there and made it sound really exciting so the kids would get motivated. Because of her energy and passion, Deerfield Elementary walked more miles than any other of the schools I worked with this year. She truly is a very organized and fun person to work with. Deerfield Elementary is very lucky to have Lisa Watters as their school coordinator for Gold Medal Schools. Simply put...she gets things done. "

Mentor: Stephanie Jones

Outstanding School Coordinator Nominees!

2009-04-27T10:30:00.004-06:00

This year we had each mentor submit an 'outstanding school coordinator' nomination from each of their schools. Nominations were for gms school coordinators that had really gone the extra mile to implement Gold Medal Schools in Utah County. The following were nominated:

Joanie Burningham from Spring Lake Elementary
Pat Nielson from Hillcrest Elementary
Colleen Kulp from Orem Elementary
Scott Coalwell from Harvest Elementary
Lisa Watters from Deerfield Elementary
Owen Cluff from Lincoln Academy and
Nancy Taylor from Cherry Creek Elementary

A special thanks to all these GMS coordinators who have really gone above and beyond!

Congratulations Riverveiw Elementary!

2009-04-27T10:14:00.002-06:00

Riverview Elementary was recently awarded a $200 grant from the Nebo Education Foundation. They are using this money to purchase new PE equipement for their students.
Congratulations Riverview!

Annual PE training a great success!

2009-01-28T12:31:00.002-07:00

Thanks to all of you who attended the annual PE training at the West Valley Family Fitness Center! We had a great turnout from Utah County and got a lot of great new ideas to take back to our local schools.
Materials and handouts from the training will be available on the Gold Medal Schools website at www.hearthighway.org/gms/gmsinfo.html

Alpine Elementary gives back!

2008-12-15T14:14:00.006-07:00

Alpine Elementary School has turned their GMM into a way to give something back. The theme for their school this year is "Bee Safe, Bee Fit, Bee Kind". In an effort to achieve their goal the students have been walking to school, and walking or running laps around the school's field. When the students walk they raise money to buy lunches for children at a school called the Candle Light School in Kenya, Africa. For every 10 miles logged by a student, forty cents will be donated to Candle Light School. Forty cents will buy lunch for one student for an entire week. Paper footprints lining the hallways indicate the distance and donations achieved by the students. Since October, Alpine Elementary students have collectively walked over 4,000 miles!
An additional support for the school community with the walking efforts came from the awarding of the grant from UDOT. The school's SNAP (Student Neighborhood Access Program) plan has been established and the $12,000 from this grant is helping with informing the public and offering additional incentives as students and families use safe routes to school. On Wednesday, November 5, 2008, Alpine Elementary School welcomed three visitors from Kenya, Africa. Evelyn Gepkemei, of the Kenya Institution of Education, Lilian Odibro, an African administration Director, and Stephen Abere, the Deputy of Education Officer for the Mombasa School District of Kenya, visited the school in hopes of learning new teaching methods, observing how the school is run, and studying the integration of technology. The trio conducted a special assembly for the students at the school and gave thanks for what the students are doing to help one of their own schools back in Kenya. The students are doing such a good job and are so motivated. They held an assembly at the beginning of the year and had the Salt Lake Bees mascot come to introduce their theme "Bee Safe, Bee Fit, Bee Kind"

Yea Orem Elementary!

2008-12-08T14:41:00.004-07:00

Here's a great story about an Orem Elementary student, Brandon Hoffmann, who has gone above and beyond helping Orem Elementary reach their gold medal mile goal of walking to China:
http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/290943/

'Healthy Lunches Help Kids' concentration in School'

2008-12-08T14:40:00.000-07:00

Here's the link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/24/AR2008082400533.html?nav=rss_health

Staff Wellness Ideas!

2008-11-06T12:38:00.004-07:00

If you're school staff are looking for a fun way to get healthy, we at Gold Medal Schools have tons of fun ideas to help! Ask your mentor for some ideas or visit these websites for additional ideas:
wellness.byu.edu
www.fns.usda.gov/tn/
www.livestrong.com
www.shapeup.org
www.smallstep.gov
www.ihwsolutions.com
www.presidentschallenge.org

Idea Sharing Workshop

2008-09-02T15:09:00.004-06:00

On October 27th we held the first annual Utah County GMS Workshop. We had a variety of schools attend such schools who had just started the program to schools working on the Platinum Plus level.
A lot of great ideas and insights were shared about the gold medal mile, getting the kids excited about walking, getting staff support, incentives, and staff wellness ideas.
Ask your mentor for more information about the workshop and great ideas that were shared.