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School Encourages Students To Get Fit

December 4, 2009
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Students at Walt Whitman Middle School in Fairfax County, Va. play basketball in the gymnasium. The school is encouraging the students to be active for at least 60 minutes per day.
David Schultz
Students at Walt Whitman Middle School in Fairfax County, Va. play basketball in the gymnasium. The school is encouraging the students to be active for at least 60 minutes per day.

By David Schultz

At Walt Whitman Middle School in Fairfax County, step dancers are performing at the main entrance. There's a basketball game going in the gym and a karate demonstration taking place in a classroom.

School administrators are hoping their students take up these activities. They're trying to get the students to be active for the federally recommended 60-minutes per day.

Otha Davis, the school's principal, says this is harder than it should be.

"Some of our kids spend a lot of time with computers and iPods and texting."

Davis speaks to WAMU as he does a 2-mile power walk through the halls of his school.

"So this is just one way to say it's Ok to be physically fit."

Whitman Middle School received a $5,000 grant for an after-school fitness club from the NFL's "Fuel Up to Play 60" initiative.

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