School Fitness Program Makes Strides in Increasing Students’ Awareness about Importance of Exercise

PHOENIX--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--The results are in. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona’s 2010 Walk On! Challenge reached more than 10,000 fifth-graders around the state and taught them the importance of exercising for 60 minutes every day. Results from a survey given before and after children participated in the Challenge showed 22 percent of the children who responded after completing the program knew they should get 60 minutes of exercise per day, and 35 percent knew they should have no more than two hours of TV and non-school-related computer time. In addition, the program resulted in a 21 percent increase of children exercising 60 minutes or more per day after completing the program.

“We knew Walk On! was impacting children’s behaviors all over the state because of the feedback from teachers and the popularity of the program over the past five years”

“We knew Walk On! was impacting children’s behaviors all over the state because of the feedback from teachers and the popularity of the program over the past five years,” said Rich Boals, president and CEO of BCBSAZ. “And now with the proof in hand, we can get even more schools on board to bring this program to more children and make an even bigger impact on children’s health and our goal of combating childhood obesity.”

The results were gathered through surveys given to the participating students before and after the program. This was the first year in the program’s five-year history that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona asked students to complete surveys. The surveys were each one-page with 10 questions given to students to measure their awareness of how much exercise is necessary for good health, the kinds of activities that count as exercise, the benefits of getting enough exercise and the kinds of food considered to be nutritious.

“We all want to make a difference in our state’s staggering childhood obesity rate and working together, I think it can be done,” said Boals. “If it wasn’t for the enthusiasm of the teachers and their willingness to embrace the program and implement it themselves in their classrooms, Walk On! would not be this successful. So thank to you to all the teachers.”

Walk On! is a fun and educational school-based fitness program designed to motivate fifth-graders statewide to incorporate exercise into their daily routines. The Walk On! Challenge encourages fifth-graders to compete for prizes by exercising 60 minutes every day in February. Individual students who met the Challenge goal of 1,680 minutes were eligible to win one of five Wii Fit^TM systems or one of 40 iPod^® shuffles.

New to the program this year was the addition of five $5,000 grants. Fifth-grade teachers who registered for the Walk On! Challenge and implemented it in their classrooms were eligible to apply for a chance to win a grant for their school to continue the efforts to combat childhood obesity. The grant applications are currently under review by a panel of judges and winners of those grants will be announced in May.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona plans to launch an updated version of the Walk On! Challenge in 2011, incorporating more nutrition information along with the information about exercise.

About Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona (BCBSAZ), an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, is the largest Arizona-based health insurance company. The not-for-profit company was founded in 1939 and provides health insurance products, services or networks to nearly 1.3 million individuals. With offices in Phoenix, Flagstaff, Tempe and Tucson, the company employs more than 1,500 Arizonans. For information about BCBSAZ and its HealthyBlue program, an integrated program of tools, resources and services that can help Arizonans live a healthier lifestyle, visit azblue.com/HealthyBlue.