Horace Mann takes part in million-kid workout

Horace Mann Laboratory School students and Bearcats athletes took part Thursday in what may have been the largest workout session ever.

The event was part of a nationwide JAM promotion intended to encourage children to engage in physically active play for at least an hour a day.

JAM is a national non-profit initiative with the stated goal of fighting child obesity by getting kids to exercise more. It works to deliver health education resources to schools and offices while teaching adults and children how to live healthier, more active lives.

On Thursday, more than 1.2 million students across the country were to perform 60 seconds worth of exercises beginning at 10 a.m.

After several weeks of practicing their workout routine, Horace Mann students lined up on the football field at Bearcat Stadium, where they were led in a series of calisthenics by physical education teacher Gina McNeese.

The "JAMmin' Minute" consisted of five very simple exercises. One minute may not seem like a long time, but the idea was to emphasize to the students the importance of staying active.

McNeese heard about the record attempt on the internet, and after speaking with Horace Mann Principal Jill Baker signed the school up to take part.

"It's about knowing that exercising and eating right, even at their age, is a building block to have a good, long and healthy life," McNeese said.

Ever since President Barack Obama signed the Healthy and Huger-free Kids Act earlier this year, schools have been implementing various health-related initiatives, such as more nutritious lunch menus with a heavier emphasis on fruits and vegetables.

"We do everything we can do that shows children the pathway to a healthy lifestyle," Baker said. "This teaches a whole generation to want to grow up healthy and strong.

"This was an awesome way for our kids to participate in community fitness."

Efforts to encourage exercise are also receiving more attention in schools nationwide.

"They absolutely go together," McNeese said. "And we all try to work together to learn good and healthy habits. It is really about making good choices."

And the best way to change bodies, she believes, is to change minds.

"It is so important for these kids to understand that they have to eat right and exercise to be healthy, but it's more than that," McNeese said. "It is not only the quantity of life we have, but the quality. And then they need to express that to their friends and families and to the community."