Schools
Thomas Jefferson Elementary Is Talkin' To You!
Students won $5,000 in a Bay Area wide physical fitness challenge. What have you done to get or stay fit?
Patch already about how students at Thomas Jefferson Elementary became Bay Area champions in a physical fitness competition.
But this picture of the school getting its $5,000 award Thursday from sponsors at CVS pharmacies was too spunky not to share.
The four students holding the oversized check are Edmond Siu, Kaya Gil, Natalie Zavala and Jeremy Carone.
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The grownups standing behind them are (left to right): school board member Carmen Sullivan, CVS Pharmacy manager Lee Gifford, physical education teacher Kelly Ball, Playworks coach Steve Kropp, school principal Ruben Aurelio, school board president Morgan Mack-Rose, and CVS manager J.C. Ysalgue.
Briefly, the school won the award because all 624 Jefferson students did physical activity for at least 30 minutes a day, three days a week for a month last year.
Find out what's happening in San Leandrowith free, real-time updates from Patch.
How did the school pull it off?
Principal Aurelio said Ball, the PE teacher, spearheaded the effort with help from "Coach Steve" with Oakland-based Playworks, a non-profit that promotes safe physical activity at schools.
"Ultimately, being physically fit is a goal for all our students," Aurelio wrote in an email. "The payoff is that fitness and education go hand in hand. Healthier students are more focused and engaged in learning."
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