Childhood Obesity

Education, and the lack of funds for it, has been the topic of two community forums this week. Truly, we need to send a message to the folks in Sacramento. At Glendale Community College, we heard that the state's educational priorities are providing for technical careers and getting students to four-year colleges (“ College to place priority on basic skills, transfers ,” March 2). For 60 years, lifelong learning and parent education have been key components of the college's curriculum.

La Crescenta High School's Prom Plus has another successful year Despite last minute financial challenges, Crescenta Valley High School's Prom Plus committee said that the event following the May 27 prom was one of the most successful in the 13-year history of the organization, with more than 300 seniors and their dates attending. Committee coordinator Robin Goldsworthy, community members and Prom Plus suppliers stepped forward to bridge the financial gap that had occurred thanks in part to fewer committed funds coming through, and to the governor's restrictions on food sales in public schools.

A college classroom can be intimidating for students learning English as a second language. Responding to ESL students? requests, Roxanne Rafii, an Equal Opportunity Placement Services counselor, created the Conversation Club at Glendale Community College. Students can join any time, and the club is meant to make participants feel comfortable practicing their English skills while learning about different topics.?It?s not just meeting the conversational and listening and speaking needs of students,?

DOWNTOWN — Incumbents flaunted their experience as requisites for fighting through budget cuts, and challengers stressed their principles during a candidate forum for the Glendale Unified School District Board of Education on Thursday. Questions on the district’s budget deficit and traffic safety around schools led off the forum, hosted by the Glendale Council PTA. Topics later touched on childhood obesity and teacher incentives. Eric Sahakian, one of the challengers for the three seats up for grabs in the election, took on a question about state grant flexibility to stress his support of small class sizes.

LA CA—ADA FLINTRIDGE ? The safest and smartest way to fitness is to take it one step at a time, said workout guru Linda Taix and Dawn Steele who launched the Stroller Strides exercise program on Thursday for moms who want to get moving. More than 25 mothers ? three of whom were expecting ? brought their strollers and their children, aged 7 weeks to 3 years, to the free grand opening class held at Taix Workout Studio and pounded the pavement down Foothill Boulevard. They walked all the way to Descanso Gardens, where they stopped for some body-toning and strengthening exercises, including squats, lunges and bicep curls, before power-walking back to the studio for refreshments, Taix said.

GLENDALE — The growing prevalence of childhood obesity has spurred the Glendale YMCA to expand its youth programs, catering fitness to its preteen clientele. A newly outfitted Youth Fitness Center, expected to be unveiled in early February, will provide equipment and exercise that are particularly suited for children between the ages of 8 to 14, said Ryan Nekota, the Glendale YMCA’s wellness director. “Of course the big issue now is youth obesity,” he said.

Teens are getting help off the couch and into physical fitness with the teaming up of 24 Hour Fitness Facilities and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. 24 Hour Fitness is offering almost an entire semester of workout time to those teens who make a commitment to physical health, but so far very few local students are taking advantage of the new program. According to Kenny Rogers of the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, high school students from 14- to 18-years-old can sign up online to take the four-week governor's challenge.

Devyn Heart and 21 fellow R.D. White Elementary School students held signs and chanted “walking school bus” Wednesday morning as they walked to campus to promote safer pedestrian conditions. Devyn, 9, made her sign with her mother, Barbara Heart, Tuesday night in preparation for Wednesday’s early morning group walk. She carried it throughout the route, which started at 7:40 a.m. at Ethel Street and Don Jose Drive, before going west onto Glenoaks Boulevard, south on Geneva Street, then Doran Street to the school’s Everett Street entrance.

As CicLAvia prepares to isolate 10 miles of Los Angeles streets on Sunday for use only by pedestrians and bicyclists, organizers say they are eyeing a route through Burbank, Glendale. CicLAvia organizers have met with city leaders to lay out their dream route, which would start in North Hollywood and end in Atwater as they push to expand throughout the region. “We want to be in Glendale, Burbank, Pasadena. We want to be in the beach cities - Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica and the Westside.

School lunches aren't typically celebrated as mouth-watering affairs, but walking into the Mountain Avenue Elementary School cafeteria this week, the food told a different story. Ripe tomatoes were stacked next to freshly plucked greens, which sat alongside carrots, cucumbers and cauliflower. "It is exciting to see the changes that are going on," said Agnes Lally, food services director for the Glendale Unified School District. The produce, which came from independent farms in Carlsbad, Fillmore, Tehachapi and Goleta, was being served to Mountain Avenue students as part of Farm to School, a two-week pilot program run by the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College.