Students celebrate good health
By Holly Neumann
Students in grades K-12 gathered in the Little Wolf High School gym to celebrate their own “Winter Olympics.”
Students competed in the Wellness Olympics, which included closing ceremonies and dances. They also learned about different countries.
“With the Olympics only happening every four years, the PE teachers agreed that we wanted to celebrate the Spirit of the Olympics – competition, camaraderie, sportsmanship and culture,” said Corrie Ziemer, an elementary school teacher.
In past Olympics the elementary school always had an opening ceremonies where each grade level learned a dance from a country participating in the Olympics. They then showed the dances to the rest of the school.
“This time, to correlate with the end of the Frostbite Club, and to include the high school too, the elementary learned their dances while the high school had the opportunity to participate in events,” she said.
The hope is that students will understand the importance of respecting other cultures, sportsmanship and the value of sport.
“We wanted to bring awareness to the Olympics and how it brings the world together,” Ziemer said.
This event was paired up with the Frostbite Club, which is meant to encourage kids to be aware of their life choices during the winter months.
The program runs for four weeks where students kept track of their daily exercise.
“They could receive miles for exercising, receiving double the points if the exercise was done outside, spending time with family, their eating choices and volunteering,” Ziemer. said “Students who participated earned different prizes for the amount of miles they collected.”
For the teachers, the best part is seeing the joy on the elementary student’s faces when they watch their teachers and older siblings raced down the gym on scooters.
“For the middle and high school students we were so happy to see them enjoy competition and realize it is not always about winning or losing but just participating,” Ziemer said.
The students seemed to enjoy the event as well.
“This was a lot of fun,” senior Matayah Pethke said. “It was fun to help the elementary kids. I think this is a fun day for everyone.”
“This was a good experience,” Sydney Bailey said. “It was great to watch the little kids and see what they learned in school and for them to see what we do too as well.”
Bailey also enjoyed the competition that took place.
“It was nice to see the teachers get involved and have fun with us,” she said.
Taking top honors for the most miles earned was Briley Rosin, who won FitBit.
In total, 110 students signed up for the Frostbite Club and earned 15,324 miles.