by Anne S. on Friday, January 4, 2013
On Thur. Jan. 3rd over 50 people joined at the Stearns Co. Human Services Center for a healthy meal and presentations about the incredible work happening in their communities spurred by the small investment of the Statewide Health Improvement Program (SHIP) over the last several years. St. Cloud Mayor, Dave Kleis, addressed the group saying in his view “it’s the job of cities and counties to remove impediments to active living” and is why the City of St. Cloud adopted their Complete Streets Policy. Corie Beckermann (pictured) from St. Cloud State described how the SHIP funding provided the catalyst for the thorough process to move the campus toward becoming Smoke Free on Aug. 1, 2012. And Deanna Chiodo and Sondra Dahlberg from Ivan Sand H.S. and Rogers Middle School described the overwhelming reception they have had from teachers and students to their active classrooms program. The Active Classrooms program was made possible through a SHIP grant and they are seeing both academic and behavioral improvements in the students as a result of the simple strategies that incorporate physical activity into the curriculum.