MONROE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL RECEIVES $15,000 FOR EFFORTS TO IMPROVE HEALTH OF STUDENTS, FACULTY AND COMMUNITY
Oklahoma City (October 2, 2019) – The Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) recognized Monroe Elementary School on Wednesday for its efforts to improve health for students, faculty and the community.
The Oklahoma City elementary school received $15,000 through the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) Healthy Incentive Program for school.
“These grants recognize the effort of schools that are actively promoting healthy lifestyles. Studies show that active, healthy kids perform better in school,” said TSET Executive Director Julie Bisbee “Habits formed early last a lifetime and we want to recognize schools that are making the healthy choice the easy choice for students, staff and the community.”
The school used the funds to purchase a mobile Action Based Learning Lab, staff development training, PE equipment and a two-year subscription to an online classroom physical activity program.
Action Based Learning Labs prepare the brain for learning. Each activity station in the lab focuses on the connection between the brain and the body. Research shows that the lab activities improve memory retention, reinforce academic concepts and build brain pathways for learning.
Monroe Elementary previously received a One Star Healthy Schools Incentive Grant in January 2017 and a Two Star award in January 2018.
Bisbee and Sharon Howard, incentive grant program manager, presented a check to Kandy Bishop, principal; Craig Edwards, assistant principal; Shannon Buck, PE teacher; and Dawn Chernicky, health & physical education coordinator for Oklahoma City Public Schools.
The incentive grant criteria focus on strengthening policies and practices to improve school nutrition, increase physical activity, improve student wellbeing and provide tobacco-free environments for students, staff, faculty and families. These health-promoting practices and policies are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Incentive grant funds must be used for projects or programs to improve health.
The TSET Healthy Living Program collaborates with the Oklahoma City-County Health Department to serve Oklahoma County and works to prevent and reduce tobacco use and obesity by partnering with schools, worksites, and local governments to promote healthy choices. Healthy Living Program staff collaborate with community champions across all sectors to make their counties a healthier place to live, learn, work, and play.
TSET was created by a constitutional amendment in 2000 as a long-term strategy to improve health and ensure settlement payments from a 1998 multi-state lawsuit against the tobacco industry are used to improve the health of all Oklahomans. The funds are placed in an endowment to ensure a growing funding source for generations to come. Only the earnings from the endowment are used to fund grants and programs.
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The Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) serves as a partner and bridge builder for organizations working towards shaping a healthier future for all Oklahomans. TSET provides leadership at the intersections of health by working across the state, by cultivating innovative and life-changing research, and by working across public and private sectors to develop, support, implement and evaluate creative strategies to take advantage of emerging opportunities to improve the public's health. TSET. Better Lives Through Better Health.