MIAMI (April 6, 2017) -- FIU women's basketball recently participated in the "Walking School Bus" program, encouraging kids to increase physical activity and walk to school. The program is organized by Healthy West Kendall, and started last fall, with the program pairing parents and students with groups wanting to assist in a healthy morning walk to school to increase physical activity.
The Panthers broke up into groups and walked with kids from their neighborhoods to Wesley Matthews Elementary on the morning of March 31, with local police ensuring a safe trip. Folks from sponsor West Kendall Baptist also participated.
The genesis of the program comes on the heels of physical education programs in schools being cut, and seeing data that indicates nearly half of children ages 5 to 14 walked to school in 1969, with that number down to just 13 percent today. With today's rising obesity rates, the program is trying to inject more physical activity in the daily routines of young children, which improves behavior and academic performance, studies have shown.
"I have always encouraged our student-athletes to go out and to represent the team and the school by going into the local community," said FIU Head Coach
Tiara Malcom. "It is especially important and rewarding when you can connect with kids and have some actual interaction with them. You make an impression both ways that lasts long after. I still have strong memories of working with kids while I was a player."
This program is one of many coordinated through the office of Student Development that FIU student-athletes participate in on an annual (or more frequent) basis.
For women's basketball ticket information, contact the FIU Ticket Office at 305-FIU-GAME or log onto
www.FIUSports.com.
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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including Lime Court at FIU Arena and at Riccardo Silva Stadium.
About FIU: Florida International University is classified by Carnegie as a "R1: Doctoral Universities - Highest Research Activity" and recognized as a Carnegie Community Engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as business, engineering, computer science, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes almost $9 billion each year to the local economy and is ranked second in Florida in Forbes Magazine's "America's Best Employers" list. FIU graduates are consistently among the highest paid college graduates in Florida and are among the leaders of public and private organizations throughout South Florida. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission with multiple state-of-the-art research facilities including the Wall of Wind Research and Testing Facility, FIU's Medina Aquarius Program and the Advanced Materials Engineering Research Institute. FIU has awarded more than 220,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, the Miami Beach Urban Studios, and Tianjin, China. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and more than 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.
