Wildcat Wellness Challenge empowers Park Avenue with healthy habits
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The Park Avenue Wildcat Wellness Challenge, sponsored by the Park Avenue PTA, invited students to submit their ideas for ways to inspire, incorporate and improve wellness in their everyday lives. The month-long initiative posed a new challenge with a different weekly focus to provide the students with some guidance. Students applied the health and wellness knowledge they've accumulated in their studies to come up with solutions on how to better...
- Feed the Belly (Week 1)
- Move the Body (Week 2)
- Quiet the Mind (Week 3)
- Turn Off the Screen (Week 4)
Each week, one of the many student submissions received was randomly selected as the winner, and that student's wellness concept was shared throughout Park Avenue that week. The Wildcat Wellness Challenge was presented on June 17, highlighting featured students and a few of their peers who also shared excellent ideas!
Our week one winner was Caleb Logan, for his Apple Sun Butter Granola Circles. The Feed the Belly challenge asked students to reinvent their favorite snack to make it healthier. They could share their favorite healthy recipe, or come up with a whole new snack.
Our Move the Body winners in Week 2 were Emma and Chloe Farley. The week two challenge was to find a new way to exercise using items you already have at home, share your favorite sport or activity, or even invent a new game to get you and your friends moving. Emma and Chloe shared how they keep themselves moving with lively Irish step dancing!
In Week 3, Brynley LaPenna was chosen to share her idea on how to Quiet the Mind. Suggestions included creating a meditation mantra or inventing a new relaxing game to play with family. So, how does Brynley like to calm her mind after a busy day? She enjoys playing Go Fish!
And Abygail Deleon was our Week 4 winner, with a great solution for Turning off the Screen. Her idea presents an excellent wellness two-fer, as Abygail's technique also applies a Move the Body tactic! Like the Farley sister's, Abygail is also a dancer, and dances three times a week to stay off her screens!
Other student ideas shared during Tuesday’s celebration included positive affirmations, Tae Kwon Do and a creative recipe called “Banana Mush.”
Andrea Batista, Park Avenue PTA Social Media Coordinator, helped organize the initiative and spoke about its impact.
“As a former ER nurse, I saw firsthand how much can be prevented with a little knowledge,” she said. “So, we created this challenge to get kids thinking about the simple, everyday things they already do and how to make them just a little bit better. We didn’t want it to feel like homework; we wanted it to be fun, approachable and something they’d be excited to share.”
The Wildcat Wellness Challenge proved to be just that: a meaningful, memorable way to empower students to take charge of their health and wellness one small step at a time.
