Swimming, exercise and hitting the weights are not uncommon things to encounter throughout the halls of Oakland Junior High School on a Thursday night. Many district schools like OJHS are opening up their hallways as well, making them free community centers on some evenings.

These are only a part of the new district-wide lifestyle awareness movement started by an organization called PowerUp and in partnership with the Lakeview Foundation.  The movement was caused by teachers using this style of interactive learning with their students and has picked up momentum recently with large community events, such as Thursday nights at OJHS.

One of the schools where PowerUp classroom techniques were first implemented was Stonebridge Elementary School.

“I had a class of 33 extremely energetic kindergarteners,” said Stonebridge teacher Cadi O’Connell.  “PowerUp gave me a DVD entitled ‘Dance Break’ to use with the kids.  They got so into it that I decided to incorporate it into lessons.  For example, in counting lessons, we would jump and count to a certain number at the same time.”

A healthy lifestyle and exercise have become popular topics of discussion for elementary students due to the new teaching methods.

“Kids are really psyched about it,” O’Connell said.  “You can always hear kids talking about how they had a healthy snack, or as they say, ‘brain food’.  One student always comes in early to our Breakfast Club here, where we serve a breakfast to the kids, because he says he needs the food to power him up for the day.”

Events, like the one at OJHS, are another aspect of the program that students are talking about.

“The kids are always really excited to share that over the weekend, their whole family went swimming together at the junior high,” said O’Connell.

Physical activity also helps students focus on school-related tasks.

“Kids have energy,” said O’Connell, “so let them get it out.  One minute of physical activity, and the next twenty minutes, they’ll just be so focused.”

These new teaching techniques and events have been warmly accepted by the district thus far.

“There is a lot of excitement in the community for anything that promotes a healthy lifestyle, including making better choices in eating habits and increased physical activity,” said Amy Burback, member of the District 834 School Board.

The future of these techniques and events looks bright, as PowerUp moves its way up the district scale.  Perhaps next year, even the high school will be on board with the program, too.