BOKS brings physical literacy program to Palgrave Public School

Written By JAKE COURTEPATTE

According to Stats Canada, kids should average sixty minutes a day of moderate to vigorous physical activity. As it currently stands, only about one in eight Canadian kids reach such a seemingly attainable goal.

It would be easy to get lost in such a dismal number. Yet it is programs such as Bring Our Kid's Success, or BOKS, that provide hope for a fitter and more nutritionally-balanced future.

With sponsorship from the Reebok Fitness Foundation, the BOKS program brought its “BOKStacle Course” initiative to Palgrave Public School on Monday, showing around 50 students from grades four and five the ropes in how to live a healthy lifestyle.

“We offer plenty of free resources for the kids to get active,” said Manager of Business Development and former Olympian hockey goaltender Kim St. Pierre, who was on-hand to show off her hardware to the curious students. “It's a volunteer-run program. Everything we offer to the school is free, through the help of parents, volunteers, and teachers.”

Palgrave Public School was one of four elementary schools across the nation to host the event Monday, as the program visits schools from pre-kindergarten to high school throughout the year.

Students were shown proper stretching techniques before taking to the obstacle course in the school's gymnasium, which included methods to get the heart pumping like tire flipping, sidestepping, and hurdling.

“It's so much fun for the kids,” said St. Pierre. “It's non-competitive, it's very inclusive. We're not a sports-based program, which means it's more functional fitness. So the kids learn how to run, how to jump, how to interact with each other. All of our activities help the child to learn how to stay active in so many ways.”

The program was founded eighteen years ago, by a mother who felt inspired after reading a book written by a Harvard professor on the mutual relationship between physical activity, nutrition, and success in the classroom. Studies show that kids who exercise see significant boosts in intelligence test scores and core subjects at school, compared to their inactive peers.

 Since then, the BOKS curriculum has been implemented in over one thousand schools across Canada and the United States, providing kids with the knowledge and resources to reach their fitness goals at such an important growth stage in their lives.

“We're all over Canada, from Vancouver to the Maritimes,” said St. Pierre.

So why Palgrave?

That connection was the work of Kyla Crocker, Regional Coordinator of BOKS.

“It's a new BOKS school this year, so we're excited to show BOKS to a new school,” said Crocker. “It was all word-of-mouth. A parent here reached out to us about five months ago, and it's kind of evolved from there.

“They have such a great team here. I'm really excited for them to start.”

With the initial BOKS event completed, the curriculum now begins for the Palgrave students and staff: the program will begin outdoors next week, with access to a list of activities through BOKS' trainer hub for school staff to implement throughout their own curriculums, and within the classroom.