SBHS’ Ready2Move Club Receives Fund for Santa Barbara’s Youth Making Change Grant for 2013 Week of Wellness, Brain Breaks
The Fund for Santa Barbara’s Youth Making Change program awarded a $1,280 grant to the Santa Barbara High School Ready2Move Club to support the Club’s 3rd Annual “Week of Wellness” and inaugural Brain Breaks initiative. The “Week of Wellness” will be held at the school during the week of April 8-12 and will be followed by the Brain Breaks Project. Ready2Move is a youth health advocacy program created by Sansum Diabetes Research Institute and implemented at SBHS, with major funding provided by the Birdwell Family Trust.
The Week of Wellness addresses positive body image, nutrition, beverage choices, physical fitness, and diabetes awareness. Following this event, club members will launch the Brain Breaks project which will provide all SBHS teachers with a booklet of ten simple, engaging physical activity “breaks” designed for the classroom. The purpose of these booklets, designed by the Ready2Move Club, is to enable teachers to encourage exercise in their classrooms, especially when students have low energy, poor concentration, and/or high stress.
Ready2Move was initiated with the overarching goal of reducing the prevalence of childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes. This twin epidemic is due in large part to the pervasiveness of unhealthy, cheap ‘food’ and physical inactivity. According to a 2012 Center for Disease Control report, childhood obesity has tripled in adolescents in the past 30 years. Another study in 2011 by the American Diabetes Association estimates that 25.8 million children and adults in the United States have diabetes and another 79 million have pre-diabetes. The Ready2Move Club’s mission is to improve the health of its members, its campus, and its community. The program is one of a suite of community outreach programs sponsored by Sansum Diabetes and is open to any SBHS student with a vested interest in health promotion.
The 3rd Annual Week of Wellness will include a Healthy Poster Contest, a cooking demo, Positive Post-Its, a Zumba® fitness class, and a Community Wellness Fair. The club has received overwhelming support for the event over the past few years through donations from local businesses and health professionals. Event sponsors have included SBSD Nutrition Services, The Berry Man, Art Essentials, 24-Hour Fitness, Spectrum Athletic Club, Play It Again Sports, Silvergreens, Backyard Bowls, Trader Joe’s, CrushCakes Café, and SBHS staff. Rose Linehan, Sansum Diabetes’ project coordinator for Ready2Move, shares that “The Week of Wellness improves each year and is able to reach more students in a positive way. The Ready2Move team hopes that this year’s event and Brain Breaks will unite the campus through the message that practicing a healthy lifestyle is important at any age!”
About Sansum Diabetes Research Institute:
Sansum Diabetes Research Institute is an internationally recognized research center devoted to the prevention, treatment and cure of diabetes. Dr. William D. Sansum, who brought renown to Santa Barbara in 1922 as the first physician in the U.S. to produce and administer life-saving insulin to patients with diabetes, founded the nonprofit organization in 1944.
The Institute has gained global acclaim for its work to develop an artificial pancreas, its success in developing protocols to increase the incidence of healthy babies born to women with diabetes, and its work with people with and at risk for type 2 diabetes. Physicians and researchers continue to develop new treatment protocols for people with diabetes, including new drugs and medical devices.
It is our intention to use our past and present accomplishments to guide us into the future – to tap into the energy and commitment that made Sansum Diabetes Research Institute what it is today – a worldwide leader in diabetes research, prevention, and treatment. For more information on Sansum Diabetes Research Institute, contact Sarah Ettman-Sterner at (805) 682-7638 or settman-sterner@sansum.org.
