{"id":8360,"date":"2018-02-27T14:00:22","date_gmt":"2018-02-27T19:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebw.tv\/?p=8360"},"modified":"2018-03-08T14:09:50","modified_gmt":"2018-03-08T19:09:50","slug":"fun-fitness-teaches-5th-grade-students-fitness-can-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thumbcoast.tv\/fun-fitness-teaches-5th-grade-students-fitness-can-fun\/","title":{"rendered":"Fun Fitness teaches 5th grade students that fitness can be fun!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sponsored by: JoAnn Wine & Associates<\/a><\/p>\n

Written by Audrey Sochor<\/p>\n

An active lifestyle and healthy eating habits are important for one\u2019s overall well-being, and for 13 years Fun Fitness has been working to instill those behaviors in Port Huron Schools\u2019 5<\/span>th<\/sup>\u00a0graders.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s really important for kids\u00a0to be<\/span>\u00a0able to fall in love with fitness as its own thing as opposed to falling in love with a sport,\u201d said Toby\u00a0Pittiglio<\/span>, Fun Fitness coach,\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0Blue Water YMCA employee. \u201cAnd Fun Fitness kind of seeks to do that, because you really can\u2019t have a kid \u2013 you can\u2019t say drop and give me 40\u00a0burpees<\/span>\u00a0and have them fall in love with that. You really got to get them involved in it, and having them in a group of their friends really helps with it.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Found in all of Port Huron\u2019s elementary schools, this six-week\u00a0program emphasizes healthy lifestyles while the kids do 20 minutes of exercise with high school mentors, such as Sydney\u00a0Koppinger<\/span>.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0A sophomore at Port Huron Northern,\u00a0Koppinger<\/span>\u00a0got involved with Fun Fitness as a way to inspire the younger students. She thinks the 5<\/span>th<\/sup>\u00a0graders find the high school students more relatable and interesting than adult advisers since they are at an age the younger students are looking forward to \u2013 being in high school and able to drive.<\/p>\n

After the exercise period, the high school mentors join the 5th-grade\u00a0students for lunch and emphasize healthy eating.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cThey get trained ahead of time, but when they come here they emphasize the healthy eating, the healthy lifestyles to the fifth graders,\u201d said Dr. Randa\u00a0Jundi-Samman<\/span>, founder,\u00a0<\/span>and director of Fun Fitness. \u201cSo it\u2019s not really us – the adults – doing it, it\u2019s them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Since the program\u00a0has been happening<\/span>\u00a0for 13 years, many of the mentors had Fun Fitness themselves as 5<\/span>th<\/sup>\u00a0graders. Volunteering lets them see it from the other side.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cAs a high school kid they see it from a different aspect now and they see how much they\u2019re actually likely changing lives in a certain way,\u201d Dr.\u00a0Jundi-Samman<\/span>\u00a0said. \u201cThey can really\u00a0make a difference<\/span>\u00a0in the life of a kid that doesn\u2019t necessarily\u00a0have the chance<\/span>\u00a0to do the exercises every day or know that it\u2019s a \u2018cool\u2019 thing to do, but seeing a 16 or a 17-year-old doing it with them makes them want to do it more and more.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the point of this program \u2013 making kids want to take those healthy steps and turn them into an everyday occurrence. Thanks to sponsors Cardiology Associates of Port Huron and the Blue Water YMCA, the students can carry on with the exercises and track their steps with the pedometer every student receives.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cWe teach them that this is not just a six weeks program,\u201d Dr.\u00a0Jundi-Samman<\/span>\u00a0said. \u201cThat even though we\u00a0are done<\/span>\u00a0after six weeks that the pedometer can serve them for the rest of their life, and counting steps and making sure they get to this ten thousand steps is what they need to do every day for the rest of their lives. So even if we plant that seed a little to make them more active down the road I think we have succeeded.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sponsored by: JoAnn Wine & Associates Written by Audrey Sochor An active lifestyle and healthy eating habits are important for one\u2019s overall well-being, and for 13 years Fun Fitness has been working to instill those behaviors in Port Huron Schools\u2019 5th\u00a0graders. \u00a0 \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s really important for kids\u00a0to be\u00a0able to fall in love with fitness as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":8365,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-feature","et_post_format-et-post-format-video","et-has-post-format-content"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFun Fitness teaches 5th grade students that fitness can be fun! - Thumbcoast.tv | ebw.tv - Serving Port Huron and the Thumbcoast<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thumbcoast.tv\/fun-fitness-teaches-5th-grade-students-fitness-can-fun\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fun Fitness teaches 5th grade students that fitness can be fun!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An active lifestyle and healthy eating habits are important for one\u2019s overall well-being, and for 13 years Fun Fitness has been working to instill those behaviors in Port Huron Schools\u2019 5th graders. \u201cIt\u2019s really important for kids to be able to fall in love with fitness as its own thing as opposed to falling in love with a sport,\u201d said Toby Pittiglio, Fun Fitness coach, and Blue Water YMCA employee. \u201cAnd Fun Fitness kind of seeks to do that, because you really can\u2019t have a kid \u2013 you can\u2019t say drop and give me 40 burpees and have them fall in love with that. You really got to get them involved in it, and having them in a group of their friends really helps with it.\u201d Found in all of Port Huron\u2019s elementary schools, this six-week program emphasizes healthy lifestyles while the kids do 20 minutes of exercise with high school mentors, such as Sydney Koppinger. A sophomore at Port Huron Northern, Koppinger got involved with Fun Fitness as a way to inspire the younger students. She thinks the 5th graders find the high school students more relatable and interesting than adult advisers since they are at an age the younger students are looking forward to \u2013 being in high school and able to drive. After the exercise period, the high school mentors join the 5th-grade students for lunch and emphasize healthy eating. \u201cThey get trained ahead of time, but when they come here they emphasize the healthy eating, the healthy lifestyles to the fifth graders,\u201d said Dr. Randa Jundi-Samman, founder, and director of Fun Fitness. \u201cSo it\u2019s not really us - the adults - doing it, it\u2019s them.\u201d Since the program has been happening for 13 years, many of the mentors had Fun Fitness themselves as 5th graders. Volunteering lets them see it from the other side. \u201cAs a high school kid they see it from a different aspect now and they see how much they\u2019re actually likely changing lives in a certain way,\u201d Dr. Jundi-Samman said. \u201cThey can really make a difference in the life of a kid that doesn\u2019t necessarily have the chance to do the exercises every day or know that it\u2019s a \u2018cool\u2019 thing to do, but seeing a 16 or a 17-year-old doing it with them makes them want to do it more and more.\u201d That\u2019s the point of this program \u2013 making kids want to take those healthy steps and turn them into an everyday occurrence. Thanks to sponsors Cardiology Associates of Port Huron and the Blue Water YMCA, the students can carry on with the exercises and track their steps with the pedometer every student receives. \u201cWe teach them that this is not just a six weeks program,\u201d Dr. Jundi-Samman said. \u201cThat even though we are done after six weeks that the pedometer can serve them for the rest of their life, and counting steps and making sure they get to this ten thousand steps is what they need to do every day for the rest of their lives. So even if we plant that seed a little to make them more active down the road I think we have succeeded.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thumbcoast.tv\/fun-fitness-teaches-5th-grade-students-fitness-can-fun\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Thumbcoast.tv | ebw.tv - Serving Port Huron and the Thumbcoast\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bluewatertv\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-02-27T19:00:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-03-08T19:09:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thumbcoast.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/IMG_3161-1024x768.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"JoAnn Wine & Associates\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Fun Fitness teaches 5th grade students that fitness can be fun!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"An active lifestyle and healthy eating habits are important for one\u2019s overall well-being, and for 13 years Fun Fitness has been working to instill those behaviors in Port Huron Schools\u2019 5th graders. \u201cIt\u2019s really important for kids to be able to fall in love with fitness as its own thing as opposed to falling in love with a sport,\u201d said Toby Pittiglio, Fun Fitness coach, and Blue Water YMCA employee. \u201cAnd Fun Fitness kind of seeks to do that, because you really can\u2019t have a kid \u2013 you can\u2019t say drop and give me 40 burpees and have them fall in love with that. You really got to get them involved in it, and having them in a group of their friends really helps with it.\u201d Found in all of Port Huron\u2019s elementary schools, this six-week program emphasizes healthy lifestyles while the kids do 20 minutes of exercise with high school mentors, such as Sydney Koppinger. A sophomore at Port Huron Northern, Koppinger got involved with Fun Fitness as a way to inspire the younger students. She thinks the 5th graders find the high school students more relatable and interesting than adult advisers since they are at an age the younger students are looking forward to \u2013 being in high school and able to drive. After the exercise period, the high school mentors join the 5th-grade students for lunch and emphasize healthy eating. \u201cThey get trained ahead of time, but when they come here they emphasize the healthy eating, the healthy lifestyles to the fifth graders,\u201d said Dr. Randa Jundi-Samman, founder, and director of Fun Fitness. \u201cSo it\u2019s not really us - the adults - doing it, it\u2019s them.\u201d Since the program has been happening for 13 years, many of the mentors had Fun Fitness themselves as 5th graders. Volunteering lets them see it from the other side. \u201cAs a high school kid they see it from a different aspect now and they see how much they\u2019re actually likely changing lives in a certain way,\u201d Dr. Jundi-Samman said. \u201cThey can really make a difference in the life of a kid that doesn\u2019t necessarily have the chance to do the exercises every day or know that it\u2019s a \u2018cool\u2019 thing to do, but seeing a 16 or a 17-year-old doing it with them makes them want to do it more and more.\u201d That\u2019s the point of this program \u2013 making kids want to take those healthy steps and turn them into an everyday occurrence. Thanks to sponsors Cardiology Associates of Port Huron and the Blue Water YMCA, the students can carry on with the exercises and track their steps with the pedometer every student receives. \u201cWe teach them that this is not just a six weeks program,\u201d Dr. Jundi-Samman said. \u201cThat even though we are done after six weeks that the pedometer can serve them for the rest of their life, and counting steps and making sure they get to this ten thousand steps is what they need to do every day for the rest of their lives. So even if we plant that seed a little to make them more active down the road I think we have succeeded.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"http:\/\/ebw.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/IMG_3161.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EbwtvNews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@EbwtvNews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"JoAnn Wine & Associates\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thumbcoast.tv\/fun-fitness-teaches-5th-grade-students-fitness-can-fun\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thumbcoast.tv\/fun-fitness-teaches-5th-grade-students-fitness-can-fun\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"JoAnn Wine & Associates\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thumbcoast.tv\/#\/schema\/person\/2b1bc6ad80673534512dc96ac161070d\"},\"headline\":\"Fun Fitness teaches 5th grade students that fitness can be fun!\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-02-27T19:00:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-03-08T19:09:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thumbcoast.tv\/fun-fitness-teaches-5th-grade-students-fitness-can-fun\/\"},\"wordCount\":553,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thumbcoast.tv\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thumbcoast.tv\/fun-fitness-teaches-5th-grade-students-fitness-can-fun\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/thumbcoast.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/IMG_3161.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Feature Stories\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thumbcoast.tv\/fun-fitness-teaches-5th-grade-students-fitness-can-fun\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thumbcoast.tv\/fun-fitness-teaches-5th-grade-students-fitness-can-fun\/\",\"name\":\"Fun Fitness teaches 5th grade students that fitness can be fun! 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You really got to get them involved in it, and having them in a group of their friends really helps with it.\u201d Found in all of Port Huron\u2019s elementary schools, this six-week program emphasizes healthy lifestyles while the kids do 20 minutes of exercise with high school mentors, such as Sydney Koppinger. A sophomore at Port Huron Northern, Koppinger got involved with Fun Fitness as a way to inspire the younger students. She thinks the 5th graders find the high school students more relatable and interesting than adult advisers since they are at an age the younger students are looking forward to \u2013 being in high school and able to drive. After the exercise period, the high school mentors join the 5th-grade students for lunch and emphasize healthy eating. \u201cThey get trained ahead of time, but when they come here they emphasize the healthy eating, the healthy lifestyles to the fifth graders,\u201d said Dr. Randa Jundi-Samman, founder, and director of Fun Fitness. \u201cSo it\u2019s not really us - the adults - doing it, it\u2019s them.\u201d Since the program has been happening for 13 years, many of the mentors had Fun Fitness themselves as 5th graders. 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So even if we plant that seed a little to make them more active down the road I think we have succeeded.\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/thumbcoast.tv\/fun-fitness-teaches-5th-grade-students-fitness-can-fun\/","og_site_name":"Thumbcoast.tv | ebw.tv - Serving Port Huron and the Thumbcoast","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bluewatertv\/","article_published_time":"2018-02-27T19:00:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-03-08T19:09:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/thumbcoast.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/IMG_3161-1024x768.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"JoAnn Wine & Associates","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Fun Fitness teaches 5th grade students that fitness can be fun!","twitter_description":"An active lifestyle and healthy eating habits are important for one\u2019s overall well-being, and for 13 years Fun Fitness has been working to instill those behaviors in Port Huron Schools\u2019 5th graders. \u201cIt\u2019s really important for kids to be able to fall in love with fitness as its own thing as opposed to falling in love with a sport,\u201d said Toby Pittiglio, Fun Fitness coach, and Blue Water YMCA employee. \u201cAnd Fun Fitness kind of seeks to do that, because you really can\u2019t have a kid \u2013 you can\u2019t say drop and give me 40 burpees and have them fall in love with that. You really got to get them involved in it, and having them in a group of their friends really helps with it.\u201d Found in all of Port Huron\u2019s elementary schools, this six-week program emphasizes healthy lifestyles while the kids do 20 minutes of exercise with high school mentors, such as Sydney Koppinger. A sophomore at Port Huron Northern, Koppinger got involved with Fun Fitness as a way to inspire the younger students. She thinks the 5th graders find the high school students more relatable and interesting than adult advisers since they are at an age the younger students are looking forward to \u2013 being in high school and able to drive. After the exercise period, the high school mentors join the 5th-grade students for lunch and emphasize healthy eating. \u201cThey get trained ahead of time, but when they come here they emphasize the healthy eating, the healthy lifestyles to the fifth graders,\u201d said Dr. Randa Jundi-Samman, founder, and director of Fun Fitness. \u201cSo it\u2019s not really us - the adults - doing it, it\u2019s them.\u201d Since the program has been happening for 13 years, many of the mentors had Fun Fitness themselves as 5th graders. Volunteering lets them see it from the other side. \u201cAs a high school kid they see it from a different aspect now and they see how much they\u2019re actually likely changing lives in a certain way,\u201d Dr. Jundi-Samman said. \u201cThey can really make a difference in the life of a kid that doesn\u2019t necessarily have the chance to do the exercises every day or know that it\u2019s a \u2018cool\u2019 thing to do, but seeing a 16 or a 17-year-old doing it with them makes them want to do it more and more.\u201d That\u2019s the point of this program \u2013 making kids want to take those healthy steps and turn them into an everyday occurrence. Thanks to sponsors Cardiology Associates of Port Huron and the Blue Water YMCA, the students can carry on with the exercises and track their steps with the pedometer every student receives. \u201cWe teach them that this is not just a six weeks program,\u201d Dr. Jundi-Samman said. \u201cThat even though we are done after six weeks that the pedometer can serve them for the rest of their life, and counting steps and making sure they get to this ten thousand steps is what they need to do every day for the rest of their lives. So even if we plant that seed a little to make them more active down the road I think we have succeeded.\u201d","twitter_image":"http:\/\/ebw.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/IMG_3161.jpg","twitter_creator":"@EbwtvNews","twitter_site":"@EbwtvNews","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"JoAnn Wine & Associates","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/thumbcoast.tv\/fun-fitness-teaches-5th-grade-students-fitness-can-fun\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thumbcoast.tv\/fun-fitness-teaches-5th-grade-students-fitness-can-fun\/"},"author":{"name":"JoAnn Wine & Associates","@id":"https:\/\/thumbcoast.tv\/#\/schema\/person\/2b1bc6ad80673534512dc96ac161070d"},"headline":"Fun Fitness teaches 5th grade students that fitness can be 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