Healthy Schools
Our Mission: Healthy Schools Produce Healthy Students
A quiet crisis is occurring in our schools. Our school children are overweight, undernourished and sedentary at increasingly alarming rates. As a result of this youth epidemic, children and adolescents are at risk of not grasping their full potential in the classroom.
Most U.S. Youth do not meet the recommendations for eating fruits and vegetables, and whole grains. About 40% of daily calories are contributed to empty calories from added sugar and solid fats. Half of those calories come from six sources: Soda, fruit drinks, dairy desserts, grain desserts, pizza and whole milk.
Almost half of young people aged 12 to 21 and more than a third of high school students do not participate in vigorous physical activity on a regular basis.
Additional Resources
Goals
In an attempt to contest this crisis, and with the help of the Wyoming Action for Healthy Kids Alliance we have developed two goals:
- Schools will adopt policies that ensure all foods and beverages available on school campuses and at school events promote eating patterns that are consistent with dietary guidelines for Americans.
- All children, from pre-kindergarten through grade 12, will engage in quality daily physical activity/health education opportunities that develop the knowledge, attitudes, skills, behaviors and confidence needed to be physically active for life.