Shape Your Future encourages Oklahomans to get active when headed to school
OKLAHOMA CITY (April 24, 2024) — Shape Your Future, a program of the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET), encourages Oklahoma students, teachers and families to bike, walk, scoot or skate to the classroom on National Bike and Roll to School Day May 8. All community members are invited to support this initiative by creating safe routes for students.
“Every year, Bike and Roll to School Day unites communities to champion safe ways for students to walk, bike and roll to school year-round,” said Julie Bisbee, TSET’s executive director. “We’re using this day to encourage Oklahomans to embrace an active and fun way to get to school to reap the benefits and joys of exercise to start their day.”
Encouraging walkability and physical activity improves the health of both adults and children. Engaging in regular physical activity, such as walking to school, can improve fitness as well as reduce the risk for numerous adverse health outcomes, like heart disease and diabetes. Oklahomans can celebrate healthy living in their communities by encouraging local schools, friends and neighbors to join in on the event. Participants should keep safety in mind by traveling in pairs or groups. Adults can help children plan a safe route and stick to it, reminding them to always wear a bicycle helmet, cross streets safely and never talk to strangers.
To learn more about National Bike and Roll to School Day, visit walkbiketoschool.org, where you’ll find ideas and best practices from the National Center for Safe Routes to School. For more kid-friendly physical activity tips and ideas on living healthy for all Oklahomans, visit ShapeYourFutureOK.com.
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Shape Your Future is a community health education intervention that encourages Oklahomans to eat better, move more and be tobacco free. Shape Your Future strives to educate parents, teachers, caregivers and all Oklahomans on how to make the healthy choice the easy choice. Find more information online at ShapeYourFutureOK.com.
The Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) serves as a partner and bridge builder for organizations shaping a healthier future for all Oklahomans. TSET provides leadership at the intersections of health by working with local coalitions and initiatives across the state, cultivating innovative and life-changing research and 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. To learn more, go to Oklahoma.gov/TSET.