Students in yellow T-shirts dotted the field at Key Middle School for the annual "Turkey Trot," on Thursday, Oct. 30. It was a fun way to encourage exercise at an age when student obesity is a national concern.
Jeanette Bayoumi was among the top 10 eighth-grade girls who finished. The last leg of the 1.2-mile course was the hardest.
"You have to put in your last amount of strength," she said.
Eighth-grader Carolyn Walker thought the layout of the course was tough.
"I thought the hard part was when you had to keep turning," Carolyn said.
The Turkey Trot involved 600 students and was run in four heats: seventh-grade girls, seventh-grade boys, eighth-grade girls and eighth-grade boys. At the end, the teachers ran as well. This was the 15th year of the event.
"I run every year," said teacher Diane Dineen. "I love it. I feel like I'm stress free."
Ahmad Younus and Jonah Eddy ate orange sections for energy after the race. Fruits were stressed early on for them.
"In elementary school, they would say you have to eat your fruit," Ahmad said.
"If you eat greasy food, you'll probably have a heart attack," said Jonah.
Key Middle School has seventh and eighth grade students and special needs students at the Key Center. Staci Grant teaches at Key Center and noted the attention they've paid to exercise.
"We have adapted-PE classes four times a week," she said.
Mary Marks, the Fairfax County Public Schools health and physical education coordinator, noted the special attention the school system is paying to health. The students’ sedentary lifestyle is being addressed.
"The national statistics are pretty startling. P.E. classes are trying to do events that encourage exercise in a fun way," she said. The Turkey Trot was one of those fun ways.
A program that just started, VERB, combats the sedentary lifestyles as well, Marks said. It is a program that was started by the Center for Disease Control, in which students log in their activity and receive points. The school with the most points can win P.E. equipment.
"It encourages kids to be active in after-school activities. They're marketing for kids to be active," Marks said.
In addition, the schools are still involved in the Presidential Fitness Awards and Virginia Wellness Program. Marks looked at the current generation of children with easy access to computer games and fast foods.
"This generation of kids has different issues in front of them," said Marks. "I think kids just have more access to fatty foods and fast foods. It's really the modern lifestyle that's doing it. We're teaching them not to be couch potatoes."