Micki King
Olympic Gold Medalist, Diving 1972
Fall is upon us and another school year is underway. I’m a long time “empty nest” mom these days, but still remember vividly the excitement my kids felt that first week of school: new friends, new teachers, new subjects, and new challenges.
As a parent, I liked getting back to the school year routine. That is, ME having the same window of time each day for ME. But, I also loved being involved with the kids’ school activities – the school play, the annual song fest, the read-a-thon each Fall and the Spring “School-Yard Sale” to raise money for these activities the next year.
I flash back to these times again this year, but with a new twist, based on the excitement I experienced with World Fit last spring.
I was the Community Leader for World Fit – 2010 in my town Lexington, Kentucky. I invited 2008 Track Olympian Tyson Gay – who grew up in Lexington – to join me as the Olympic role model and motivator. Tyson was great! He attended the Kick Off assemblies at both schools and joined the kids in their first walking sessions on each campus.
The Lexington schools were 2 of 17 pilot schools that proved World Fit works. And, WOW, how it DID work at both my middle schools, Winburn and Beaumont. Over the WF six week programs, the 1000 kids at Beaumont walked an average six miles a day. The 600 kids at Winburn averaged four miles a day in six weeks!!
I am proud to say, these two schools finished first and second overall among the 17 pilots. We are very, very proud of this achievement and intend to stay at the top. Now, as I review notes from last year and begin preparing for World Fit 2011, I see one big thing missing from Lexington’s wonderful experience – parents.
We missed the participation by parents. World Fit encourages parents to walk by allowing them to share distances family members walk together. But, this didn’t happen as we hoped. This year we want parents!! Just as parents join in the annual song festival and help with the school play – World Fit is a perfect activity for the families to “jump in.” World Fit is getting kids outdoors and moving. Our hope is to get Moms and Dads out there with them.
How was every single student at Beaumont Middle School able to walk nearly 6 miles every day – that would be from 2-3 hours walking a day?
Dear Kathy,
Gary will probably be able to give you more details on this but remember that you don’t just get miles for walking on campus. Students can get miles through sport credits which could help to those nearly 6 miles a day average.
Nico