Whiting Elementary Gets A Visit From New York Jets VIPs

From the Manchester Township School District website:

Whiting Elementary School was covered in green and white NY Jets decorations on April 24 and the school gym was full of students chanting ‘Jets! Jets! Jets!’

They were there to welcome some very special guests, Jets kicker Nick Folk and punter Ryan Quigley. They made the visit because Whiting School was a first-place winner in the the state Department of Agriculture’s Jets Play 60 “Eat Right Move More” program. The school also won a $2,000 grant for kitchen upgrades and physical education equipment.

Folk and Quigley spoke to the students about the importance of exercise and good nutrition and then took questions from the students about themselves and their careers.

They asked questions ranging from ‘What is your favorite fruit?’ to ‘Is it true that you kicked a 56-yard field goal?’ (And, yes, Folk actually did.) Afterward, they held a trivia contest based on the question and answer session.

Students who answered correctly won signed footballs, posters, hats and more. All of the students received a packet of stickers, pencils and other goodies distributed in classrooms later in the day. The Play 60 “Eat Right Move More” program is a joint effort between the New York Jets professional football team, the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, and the American Dairy Association & Dairy Council, Inc. to recognize schools in New Jersey that have made significant changes to improve their school nutrition and physical activity environment.

Principal Evelyn Swift and PE Teacher Brenda Sheftall co-wrote the grant application, which looked for schools that showed strong support and demonstrated efforts to improve nutrition and physical activity among their students.

Based on a competitive application process, one Grand Prize school and 10 finalist schools, from different districts, were selected to participate for the 2013-2014 school year.

Out of the 10 finalist schools, four  first-place schools were selected based on their performance in the Jets Play 60 Challenge. The Challenge requires that at least 100 students commit to log 60 minutes of physical activity every day for four weeks.

 “This grant is the result of the hard work and efforts of the students who participated, the classroom teachers who worked with their students, and the compilation of data by Mrs. Sheftall,” said Mrs. Swift. “Thank you so much to all of you, and to the Jets and the NJ Department of Agriculture. This really means a lot to our school.”