OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Altus School District was recently awarded a $30,000 grant to promote healthy lifestyles.
Altus School District was one of 19 school districts receiving the Healthy Schools Incentive Grants earmarked to fund health promoting projects such as playground and physical education equipment, hydration stations, walking tracks, action based learning lab equipment as well as automated external defibrillators and greenhouses.
The Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust Board of Directors approved the grants.
“It’s much easier to develop life long healthy habits when those habits are formed at a young age,” said Board Chair Dr. Bruce Benjamin. “The purpose of the Healthy Schools Incentive Grant program is to ensure schools have the policies in place and the resources, they need to promote health among students because our young people deserve every opportunity to live a healthy life.”
“These schools are doing a great job promoting healthy habits and practices to their students and we are proud to recognize those efforts,” said TSET Executive Director Julie Bisbee.
Today’s students are facing the prospect of living shorter lives than their parents – a trend that must be reversed, she said.
Bisbee said teaching the next generation to move more, eat nutritiously and be tobacco-free is a crucial step for Oklahoma to become a Top 10 state in health.
The community grants awarded to school districts were:
• Receiving $10,000 in grants is Madill Public Schools;
• Receiving $15,000 in grants are Blair, Bowlegs, Fort Towson, Pittsburg, Leach, Stonewall, Haileyville, Caney Public Schools;
• Receiving $17,000 grants are Afton. Warner and Allen Public Schools;
• Receiving $20,000 grants are Crescent, Drumright, Silo Public Schools and Idabel Public Schools;
• Receiving $25,000 grants is Anadarko Public Schools;
• Receiving $30,000 grants is Grove Public Schools.
In addition, the Board approved grants to two individual school sites, Central Elementary School in Guthrie $7,500 and Jefferson Elementary School in Norman $10,000.
A second round Healthy Schools Incentive Grants will open for applications on Dec. 2, 2019.
Visit TSET.ok.gov for more information.