Luis Ruiz, Topeka
Student participant, “Physical Activity Across the Curriculum”
Annual Report 2006-07
“Exercise is good for you. I want to do it for the rest of my life. It’s the only way I can be healthy.”
— Luis Ruiz, 11
For Luis and his classmates, movement in the classroom meant more than weight control — it also meant more learning. Through Physical Activity Across the Curriculum (PAAC), a three-year KU study of children in grades two through five, teachers incorporated physical activities into regular lessons. The results? Kids in the active classrooms not only showed a lower increase in body-mass index than those in the control group, they also performed better academically.
As we face a 25 percent obesity rate among U.S. children, PAAC and other weight-related KU studies help create healthier futures. Starting in 2008, these types of research and outreach programs will be housed at the Center for Physical Activity, Nutrition and Weight Management, a joint venture with Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. The center aims to serve 30,000 people in its first five years, with a special focus on children and adolescents. Major gifts from the George K. Baum Foundation, the Sosland Foundation and the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation provided support for start-up costs and operating expenses.
