WHAT: Love Your School, along with the AmeriCorps National Community Conservation Corps (NCCC) team, Alpine 1, and Love Your School coordinators will present the inaugural Walker of The Month award to a student attending Booker Arts Magnet Elementary School.

WHO:       Mark Stodola, mayor, City of Little Rock
                Mr. Ken Goodson, Regional Director, Denver Southwest Regional Campus
                Dr. Sadie Mitchell, associate superintendent for elementary schools, LRSD
                Dr. Cheryl Carson, principal, Booker Arts Magnet School, LRSD
                Lutricia Abdullah and Aaron Woods, Love Your School coordinators
                AmeriCorps NCCC Alpine 1 team members (10 members) 
                Michael Drake, chief service officer, City of Little Rock                      

WHERE:     Booker Arts Magnet
                  2016 Barber Street
                  Little Rock AR 72206
                   501-447-3800 

WHEN:       10 – 10:45 a.m. Wednesday March 2, 2016

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.  –  A third-grader at Booker Arts Magnet Elementary School has logged thousands of steps to earn the distinction as being the first ever Walker of the Month for the Love Your School Program, the childhood obesity initiative now in its fourth year.

Osmar Ramos has excelled in the Booker Arts Walking Club. Osmar will receive the award from Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola, AmeriCorps NCCC Regional Director Ken Goodson, and Booker Arts Magnet Principal Dr. Cheryl Carson during a ceremony at 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 2, 2016, at the outdoor track at Booker Arts Magnet Elementary School.  The award includes a new pair of running shoes.

K-5 students participating in the Love Your School childhood obesity initiative at seven partner schools across the Little Rock School District will receive monthly Walker of the Month Awards for their achievements.  Love Your School Walking Clubs area physical activity component of Love Your School. 

Love Your School could not exist without the support of the AmeriCorps NCCC program, whose current team of 10 members, called Alpine 1, is in Little Rock to build raised bed gardens at schools, construct greenhouses for growing fresh food, teach nutrition classes to students, and help with Cooking Matters classes for parents at partner schools. 

This year, the team is helping to lay the foundation for student-led farmers markets at partner schools. Fourth- and fifth-grade students will run the markets, which will begin in May.

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ABOUT LOVE YOUR SCHOOL

The Love Your School program is a childhood-obesity prevention initiative that partners with elementary schools throughout the Little Rock school district.  The program educates and creates opportunities for students through walking clubs, in-school classroom-based and garden-enhanced nutrition lessons, evening cooking nutrition classes for families, walking clubs, and youth-led farmer’s markets.   

ABOUT AMERICORPS ALPINE 1

Alpine 1 is an AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps team.  AmeriCorps NCCC is a team-based, national service program for 18-24 year olds. Members serve for 10 months, completing typically three projects in their assigned region. Their projects can include work on disaster relief, construction, child development, or food security.  Alpine 1 is currently on their second project, and has been working with Love Your School since Jan. 8.  So far, they have taught 14 lessons across 7 elementary schools and added mulch and soil to two school gardens, with a new garden in the works at Carver Magnet.