MFA Students 'Fuel Up' for Fitness [VIDEO]

Students at don't need caffeine or sugar to rev their engines this year, they're firing away through each school day fueled by their own healthy choices.

Inspired by the new Fuel Up to Play 60 program adopted this year by the Tinton Falls school's physical education department, students are learning that getting plenty of exercise and eating right are the keys to success and are incorporating those ideas throughout the school day.

Physical education teachers presented the program to the board of education at its meeting Monday night and invited some participating students to come up and talk about the importance of a healthy lifestyle.

Sponsored by the National Football League and National Dairy Council -- in collaboration with the US Department of Agriculture -- Fuel Up to Play 60 launched in over 60,000 schools in 2009, including Rumson, Fair Haven and Oceanport. The goal of the free program is to "engage and empower youth to take control of their health and wellness," according to Landis.

School goals for the year include:

• MFA Students will learn to "fuel up" with healthy nutrition choices and increase activity by playing for 60 minutes daily.
• The program will also be incorporated in the classrooms by providing classroom teachers with activities that can be performed in the room as "health breaks."
• Keeping the dialogue going at home will also be key to keeping students active.

To accomplish this, Landis and Davis have put together a number of events to encourage students to adopt a healthy lifestyle:

• Autumn kickoff: Students participated in a variety of physical events to promote fitness
• Fuel Up Web site: Encouraging students to use log on to learn more
• Football Fridays: Students and staff show the love for their favorite teams each week
• Commercial announcements: Students will act out brief fitness commercials during morning announcements
• Student Weekly Activity Logs: Kids will keep track of their efforts
• Classroom Health Breaks: Reinforcing the importance of staying active
• Family Jump Night: An MFA tradition each February
• Nutrition Poster Contest: Tied into National Nutrition Month in March
• Family Fitness Night: New event being planned to promote fitness and family fun

Landis and Davis presented a slide show highlighting Fuel Up activities this fall, which showed smiling running through fields pushing tires, dodging through hoops and balancing soccer balls on plungers, accompanied by the all important NFL-themed music.

One of the ten third grade students who spoke on Monday gave many reasons why a healthy lifestyle was important and how much he enjoyed it but then told the audience that he didn't have much of a choice.

"My mom's a personal trainer," he said.