Maurice Jones-Drew
By ANDREA MOSQUEDA
Special to the NEWS
Chris Horton and Maurice Jones-Drew will be in town come January as they plan to inform local children of the benefits of healthy eating and regular exercise.
Horton, the longtime Washington Redskins safety who recently signed on as a free agent with the New York Giants, will return to San Benito, this time accompanied by Jones-Drew, star running back for the Jacksonville Jaguars. The two are scheduled to speak at Miller Jordan Middle School on Friday, January 18, as a part of the NFL Fuel Up to Play 60 Campaign.
Dr. Cynthia Clayborn, Dean of Instruction at Miller Jordan, introduced the program at the campus when she was first employed by San Benito CISD three years ago.
“Fuel Up to Play 60 is a program founded by the National Football League and the National Dairy Council, in collaboration with USDA that empowers students to take charge in making small, everyday changes at school,” said Clayborn, an NFL Fuel Up to Play 60 Program Advisor. “Students are encouraged to make healthy food choices and get active for at least 60 minutes a day.”
Students at Miller Jordan, an official Fuel Up school, have taken the pledge to do just that by registering online and completing various challenges, such as submitting a healthy oatmeal recipe or a video of them doing a touchdown dance, in order to win prizes.
To further promote this campaign, Chris Horton and Maurice Jones-Drew, longtime friends and former teammates at their alma mater, UCLA, will attend a Meet and Greet at Fiesta Mayan in San Benito at 7 p.m. on Thursday, January 17, to answer questions and pose for pictures. On the following Friday, Horton and Jones-Drew will spend the day at Miller Jordan, speaking to students about the importance of healthy eating habits and exercising regularly, with an emphasis on the importance of breakfast participation at school.
“We offer universal breakfast, but too few of our students take advantage of it,” Clayborn said. “With this incredibly rigorous STAAR test, we need all students to eat a good breakfast and be as attentive and focused as possible.”
The program agenda could not have come at a better time. Studies show that this generation of children will be the first generation predicted not to outlive their parents, and kids now are not as active due to the abundance of technology at their disposal, at least according to Clayborn’s findings. “This is our attempt to increase awareness of healthy eating and a minimum of 60 minutes of exercise a day,” Clayborn further remarked. “We want kids to make a difference not only in their lives, but also their community.”
Read this story in the Dec 30 edition of the San Benito News, or subscribe to our E-Edition by clicking here.
1 comment
Great Job Dr. C!! Got together with friends during the holiday and their kids are really excited about
meeting them. Their parents and I plan to go the Fiesta Mayan Restaurant to see them too.Keep up the good work mam.