“As Wellness Coordinator for the Healthy Schools Program at Scott Lake Elementary, Dr. Clay has helped create and coordinate many of the initiatives that have inspired positive and healthy change for all members of the school community. Dr. Clay motivates the students, staff, parents and community-at-large to embrace healthier lifestyles that will positively impact their everyday performance.”
Claribel Garcia, Reading Coach, Scott Lake Elementary, Miami, Florida
Reading Specialist, Scott Lake Elementary SchoolMiami, Florida
The school day at Scott Lake Elementary begins with an “Energy Burst” to jumpstart young bodies and minds with a quick burst of physical activity. This innovation is typical of the changes that Dr. Cynthia Clay, a 17-year employee of the Miami-Dade public schools, has made as Scott Lake Elementary’s Wellness Coordinator. Dr. Clay is passionate about involving the entire school community (students, staff and parents) in physical activity. She used a grant to purchase exercise equipment that the staff and students now use and recruited a fitness instructor from among the school’s physical education staff who volunteers to lead a weekly staff exercise class. Dr. Clay brought a Weight Watchers at Work program to the school, resulting in 14 staff members collectively losing 168 pounds!
Dr. Clay has also encouraged PE teachers to assign art projects promoting healthier lifestyles that students complete with help from their parents (thus bringing parents into the equation). The projects are then showcased in the school’s hallways. Similarly, physical education has been incorporated into additional subject areas, such as “movement with music” in music classes.
Working with the cafeteria manager, Dr. Clay revised the school lunch menu to feature healthier ingredients and methods of food preparation. Staff members now enjoy fresh fruits, vegetables and water during meetings. To bring the healthy eating message into student’s homes, parents are invited to attend “Healthy Food Tasting Day.” And every Wednesday at 1:00 p.m., students and staff “Drop Everything and Eat Healthy,” during which students enjoy a healthy snack they have brought from home.
For her boundless creativity in coming up with new ways of making a healthy lifestyle more attainable, we award Dr. Cynthia Clay the Healthy Schools Program Champion Award.
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