News & Updates
June 15, 2007
Congratulations to the Cloverdale Elementary students in Gale Penner and Ian MacPherson's classes for completing the challenge! After 30 days of walking, running and hopping, the students collectively walked from Victoria, BC to Grenville, QC near Montreal, accumulating over 5.7 millions steps or 4,631km. Each student averaged 5.6km per day! At the closing ceremonies this morning, the students were presented with individual certificates and some great prizes for completing the challenge. Thank you to Team Sales for supplying the students with great looking Cloverdale Wellness Challenge t-shirts, to Crystal Pool & Fitness Centre for providing free swim passes, to the Organic Islands Festival for supplying free family passes, to Scott Sulz from SunOpta for a batch of healthy Nature's Path snack bars, and to Marnice Jones from the Healthy Schools program and Sports Traders for their draw prize contributions. Stay tuned for more details on what the teachers and students thought of the challenge!
June 12, 2007
Day 28 and just three days left in the challenge! Special guest Lucy Smith, 2 time World Medallist in duathlon and 18 time Canadian Champion, visited the class to talk about how she stays in tip-top shape to keep winning her races. At 42, and a mother of two, Lucy was very inspiring and taught the students that fitness is a life-long endeavour. To finish her classroom visit, Lucy took the students for a run outside on the field and taught them a new skill to help their running ability. Thanks Lucy!
June 8, 2007
As Day 26 draws to a close, the Cloverdale classrooms have now logged over 4.8 million steps (3,900 kilometres!) to travel to Iron Bridge, ON, just before Sudbury. Just 4 days left in the challenge, and the students are focused on their goal of crossing the country. Let's go team! Thank you to Chris Jarvis and Ben Rutledge for visiting the classroom earlier this morning to speak to the students about their experiences rowing at the Olympics and dealing with diabetes as a high-level athlete.
June 6, 2007
Donna Carrigan from Team Gobi Canada took some time out from training to visit the classrooms and speak to the students about her team's participation in the upcoming Gobi March - a 7 day, 150 mile race across the Gobi Desert in China. Donna's story of transforming from a non-runner to a high-level athlete was truly inspiring. Thank you to Donna, Donald and Rob from Team Gobi Canada for providing sports water bottles to all of the students participating in the challenge.
June 1, 2007
Day 19 draws to a close, and the Cloverdale classes have collectively walked over 3.5 million steps to reach Dryden, ON! U of Vic Vikes basketball players Rob Kinnear and Jeff Cullen, accompanied by ex-Vike Eric Hinrichsen from Team Sales, dropped by the classroom to talk about how they stay in top shape. They offered great tips on staying active, eating healthy and getting enough sleep, and even provided free tickets to Vikes games for next year. Thank you!
May 28, 2007
Day 15, and the mid-point of the 30 day challenge for the Cloverdale Elementary students. Thank you to Suzanne Kort Litman from the Way to Go! School Program for visiting the classes to speak to the students about road safety, and how to be safe while walking and biking around the neighbourhood. Also, thank you to Marnice from the Healthy Schools Program for generously providing skipping ropes and 2 for 1 rec centre passes for all of the students for reaching the middle milestone of the challenge! They were a big hit!
May 25, 2007
The Cloverdale classes have officially reached the end of Day 12 to complete their second week of the challenge. From Nelson, BC, they collectively walked another 859km to reach Saskatoon, SK! Nova Scotia, here they come! Congratulations!!
May 17, 2007
Day 4 is complete, and with a Pro-D day tomorrow, this wraps up the first school week of the Cloverdale pilot challenge. Collectively, the students have walked 904km - the equivalent of Victoria to Nelson, BC! This is well beyond our expectations, so we have had to shift to using a Canada map - courtesy of Speakwell.com's Circle Canada P.E.D. map. All three teachers report a great response from the students, both to following through on their goals of increasing their daily steps, and to the healthy snacks. Kids are reporting feeling muscles they have never felt before!
May 14, 2007
Day 1 of the challenge! Dr. Lara Lauzon led off the launch with a great presentation on fitness and pedometers (and how many steps it takes to burn off a McDonald's value meal!). The students received their pedometers, goodie bags and snacks, and started off the challenge with a fun run around the school yard. Thank you to A-Channel, the Victoria News and Rebecca Scott at C-FAX Newsline for covering the event!
May 4, 2007
Dave Johnson and his team from Aloyd Fitness are generously donating a fitness package to Cloverdale Elementary School for completing the Victoria School Wellness Challenge. Thank you!
May 3, 2007
Community businesses step up to support 30 day wellness challenge at Cloverdale Elementary School...
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May 2, 2007
Island Runner has now become the latest addition to our major corporate classroom sponsors for the challenge. Thank you very much Phil, for your generous contribution of pedometers to this year's challenge!
April 29, 2007
Alan Thompson and his team at Planet Organic Victoria have generously donated a $25 gift certificate to the Victoria School Wellness Challenge. Along with the Accent Inn certificate, this will be one of the prizes up for grabs in the parents' activity log component of the challenge, which aims to increase fun and fitness for the whole family!
April 28, 2007
Thank you to Dean Clarke and his team at Thrifty Foods Cloverdale, for setting up a healthy snack program for this year's VSWC pilot program at Cloverdale Elementary School. Participating students will be issued punch cards that can be redeemed for a nutritious food item on each day of the challenge!
April 26, 2007
We are pleased to announce Lifestyle Markets' participation as our second major corporate classroom sponsor in the Victoria School Wellness Challenge! Thank you to Carmine and co. for their generous donation towards pedometer purchases for the challenge.
April 24, 2007
Thank you to the Social Charity Community committee at EDS Advanced Solutions for becoming our first major corporate classroom sponsor, with their generous donation of funds to purchase pedometers for the Victoria School Wellness Challenge.
April 19, 2007
Anna Veltri has graciously stepped forward as our first individual community sponsor, contributing a donation towards the purchase of a classroom set of pedometers. Thank you Anna!
April 19, 2007
Ian MacPherson's class of Grade 3 and 4 students at Cloverdale Elementary School have signed up as the second class in the VSWC pilot project scheduled for May 14th!
April 17, 2007
Classic Home Improvements and OfficeWise Consulting have become our first corporate classroom sponsors, by committing donations for the purchase of pedometers for students participating in the wellness challenge. Thank you!
April 12, 2007
Accent Inns has stepped forward to be the first prize sponsor for the Victoria School Wellness Challenge. They have generously donated a 1 night stay at any Accent Inn location across BC.
April 10, 2007
Thank you to Scott Sulz from SunOpta Canadian Food Distribution Group, Canada's largest distributor of organic, natural, kosher and specialty foods. Scott has generously arranged for the contribution of several cases of healthy food and beverage items, for the Victoria School Wellness Challenge pilot launch.
March 26, 2007
Gale Penner's class of Grade 3 students at Cloverdale Elementary School have signed up to be the first participants in the Victoria School Wellness Challenge! The class will take part in the VSWC pilot project, which is scheduled to commence on May 14, 2007.
March 13, 2007
30 Day School Wellness Challenge encourages Victoria students to walk across Canada...
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