Forsyth County students attempt to dance into record book with Zumba
Posted: Friday, February 1, 2013 7:53 pm | Updated: 12:39 am, Sat Feb 2, 2013.
Arika Herron/Winston-Salem Journal
Nearly 1,200 area students attempted Friday to shake, shimmy and shuffle their way into the Guinness Book of World Records.
Fourth- and fifth-grade students from six Winston-Salem/Forsyth County elementary schools took part in what was billed as the world’s largest Zumbatomic class – an aerobic program for children under the age of 15 – at the Benton Convention Center Friday morning to kick off the Go Red and Get moving initiative.
Go Red and Get Moving is designed to get children active and healthy and raise awareness of heart disease during the month of February.
Event coordinator Cheryl Lindsay said the event had three goals: break the world record for largest Zumbatomic class, start the Go Red and Get Moving campaign and teach kids about making healthy choices. It’s a lesson Lindsay said she hopes the students will adopt now and continue a lifetime.
“It’s something that contagious,” Lindsay said. “So it’s important to get people started early.”
Mayor Allen Joines joined the 1,121 students and their teachers for the 30-minute dance workout. As dance music blared, students followed choreographed routines performed by instructors on stage.
“It was really fun,” said Cecilia Beck, 9, a fourth-grader at Kernersville Elementary. “I’ve never done this before, so it was a new experience for me. I loved it.”
She wasn’t alone. At the end of the 30-minute session, students showed their enthusiasm with hugs, cheers and high fives. Many kept dancing to the music and rushed to the center of the floor for the finale balloon drop.
“Keep moving,” encouraged Forsyth County District Judge Denise Hartsfield.
Keeping the kids moving for the rest of the month will be the focus now. The six schools that participated Friday - Cash, Diggs-Latham, Kernersville, Lewisville, Sherwood Forest and Meadowlark elementary schools – are just a few of the 20 schools that will participate in the Go Red and Get Moving campaign for the next month.
Students who participate commit to exercise 30 minutes a day, five days a week and adopt one new healthy habit for the month of February. Students have been encouraged to set goals such as drinking more water, getting more sleep and eating more fruits and vegetables.
“I’m going to play and exercise and eat healthy food,” said Jaemarius Harper, 9, a fourth-grader at Kernersville Elementary.
Lexi Lovelace, 9, a fourth-grader at Lewisville Elementary, had a different idea.
“I’m going to drink tons of water,” she said, raising a half-empty water bottle.
Those are all good ideas that school administrators hope last longer than just the next 28 days.
Go Red and Get Moving is a way to keep health top of mind for students even after the challenge is over. Nancy Sutton, health and physical education specialist for the school system, said lifestyles today make it harder for students to be healthy. It’s never been more important to instill the importance of making healthy choices, she said.
“We’ve got a lot of things to fight,” Sutton said. “The younger you’re practicing healthy habits, the more likely those will carry into adulthood.”
The official designation of the world record attempted Friday should be announced in the next few weeks. The previous record for the largest Zumbatomic class was 383 participants, set in April 2012.
I got my report card today. I can't believe I didn't get any A's. I guess I'm just ready for school to be over. The most important thing on my report card was "Promoted to 6th Grade."
I got my report card today. I got a couple of C's. I hope mom and Ster don't get mad.
When it snows in winter, me and my brother go out to play. When we do go out, we make snowmen. Once we did, I came the next day. My snowman wasn't there! When I saw a trail, I followed it. So when I did, there were snowmen ahead of me! So the trail ended. I saw 15 snowmen with more coming! So I picked my snowman out, and signaled for him to come over my way. So he did. Then we talked about why he was here. He said "Well your best friends snowman came to tell me, and so after that I went with him." "So then we went down the biggest hill he and your best friends snowman could find." So it was a race to me. Who ever got to me first, would win. When they started my snowman got behind. Then he came back. But got a little off course. So in my mind, I thought "he knows where to go!" Well, I was right because he pulled back into 1st place. Finally they got to the end. It was a race to me. At the last second he pulled in front then back, then in front again. He had won! So both snowmen had a good talk with each other. So I get into the conversation too. We had a good talk until 11:00 then we went to the sled grounds and sleded some more! Finally we went to my house and sleded even more! I went to bed then. My snowman didn't.
Mommy and I watched this tonight. Faraway adventure, pirates, ships, boats, planes, cars, motorcycle, lost treasure, intrique, and a cute little dog called Snowy. I really liked it!
