Three Utah Schools Win Statewide Health Competition, Presented by SelectHealth

Recess is great for burning off some of that never-ending elementary school energy. But what happens on those cold winter days when the kids are trapped inside the classroom? Piper Nuetzel, a teacher at Redeemer Lutheran School in Salt Lake, had a plan up her sleeve.

“We have a small school without a gym,” Nuetzel explains. “When the weather was bad, we would have a health lesson.” She would teach her kids fitness vocabulary, help them construct healthy meals, and explain what it means to be a good sport. Then she would get out activity balls and jump ropes so the kids could get some exercise inside the classroom.

The lesson plans, PE activities, and equipment were provided by SelectHealth, as part of the STEP Express program. The nonprofit insurance company created the free fitness program in 2007 to help fourth-graders get healthy.

“Many children aren’t getting the exercise and nutrition they need to stay fit,” says Patricia Richards, SelectHealth president and CEO. “Reports show that active kids are not only healthier, but they also earn higher grades.”

The STEP Express program includes eight lesson plans, PE activities, and a fitness challenge. SelectHealth also provides exercise equipment for each of the students. As part of the fitness challenge, students record their minutes of exercise.

Nuetzel was drawn to program because of its turnkey approach. “We could just jump in and go with it,” she says. “That was huge.”

Her students, however, didn’t quite jump in with both feet—at first. Nuetzel says that some of the students struggled with some of the exercises at the beginning of the program. “The first time we ran the mile, some of the kids struggled. I even had a few in tears,” she admits. “But when we ran it again at the end of the program, they had taken minutes off of their time and were really pleased with themselves.”

Nuetzel says the students even got a bit competitive about tracking their progress. “Kids were motivating each other to track more minutes,” she says. “And it wasn’t about who was the tallest, the fastest, or the skinniest—it was about the improvement.”

More than 9,000 students at 109 Utah schools participated in STEP Express this year. Of all the schools, Redeemer Lutheran tracked the highest average number of minutes of exercise per student, earning the school a $2,500 cash grant from SelectHealth. Fountain Green Elementary and Spring City Elementary—both located in Sanpete County—also received grants, finishing second and third, respectively.

Redeemer Lutheran School will use the grant to create a school garden. “Some kids have never seen a tomato grow,” Nuetzel says. “We’ll use the garden for science and social studies lessons.” More importantly, she adds, the new garden will help the kids in “making good food choices and creating a healthy lifestyle.”

Details about STEP Express, including a guide for both teachers and parents, is available at www.stepexpress.org.

About SelectHealth

SelectHealth is a nonprofit health insurance organization serving members in Utah and Idaho, and is committed to health improvement, superior service, and providing access to high-quality care. As a subsidiary of Intermountain Healthcare, SelectHealth is part of one of the nation's top-ranked integrated health systems. SelectHealth is also recognized as Utah’s top-ranked health plan, according to NCQA's Private Health Insurance Plan Rankings, 2011–2012. For more information, visit selecthealth.org.