Above right, Sage Comstock, junior, gives a presentation to the elementary class about the Start Somewhere Walk. Left, Matthew Ranfeld patiently waits to be called on to ask a question.
(Abby Clark photos)
by Rachel Ranfeld and Vincent Bushong
Every step toward better health must start somewhere, and Abby Clark and her Sprint class are leading the way with help from Iowa’s Healthiest State Initiative. Students encouraged the community to participate in the Start Somewhere Walk, a statewide event urging people to walk a kilometer at the same time.
The walk took place on Friday, Oct. 7, at noon when Montezuma students in all grades walked three laps around the track. Over 1,500 walks took place all over the state.
Participants received a lime green bracelet that reads, “Start Somewhere—Healthy Iowa” to remind them of their goal, the money for which was donated by the Meyer family and That’s Dancin’, a dance studio in Montezuma.
The Healthiest State Initiative’s goal is to make Iowa the healthiest state over the next five years and move up from its current ranking of 19th Governor Terry Branstad announced in August of 2010. In order to get to the first place ranking, Iowans will need to start making better food and exercise decisions and taking time to de-stress and relax.
The ranking is measured by the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index®. The index is based on in-depth interviews of more than 350,000 U.S. adults which focus on six categories: life evaluation, physical health, emotional health, healthy behavior, work environment and basic access.
Clark said, “I thought that this would be a good undertaking for the Sprint class. When [Superintendent] Dave Versteeg asked for a leader for the project, I asked my class about it to see if they were interested. Right away, they came up with a lot of ideas.”
The Sprint students are Damionn Burk, Vincent Bushong, Cole Cameron, Sage Comstock, Alana Fahlenkamp, Kaitlyn Gregory, Brayden Hudnut, Colleen Johnston, Joe Karnes, Tyler Meyer, Trevor Moyer, Kennedy Phillips and Rachel Ranfeld.
Monday, Oct. 2, the Sprint students visited individual classrooms to inform the other students of the walk using a Prezi presentation created by Joe Karnes and to ask them to fill out goal sheets as one way to become healthier.
The students plan to make an art collage using each goal sheet to hang in the school breezeway between the junior high and high school. Most of the students’ goals included being more active and eating healthier.
To gain interest in the project, Sprint students posted flyers of random facts about health and wellbeing around the school.
To continue this project, the class will be starting a club for students not in athletic activities. This club will provide a great opportunity for them to get more exercise.
To get more information about the Healthiest State Initiative, visit Joe Karnes’s Prezi presentation at
http://www.prezi.com/hfztkyrru4_y/start-somewhere or the Healthiest State Initiative’s website at www.iowahealthieststate.com
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