Get Fit with Walgreens' Program Encourages Students To Get Healthy

'Get Fit With Walgreens' Program Encourages Students to Get Healthy, and Stay Healthy Students from Nettlehorst Elementary School in Chicago learned about the importance of a healthy diet and exercise with their good friend, The Striped Vegetarius, one of the characters in the award-winning "Get Fit with Walgreens" program.

Now in its third year, the program is designed to help manage the obesity crisis among urban youth by encouraging students to better understand proper nutrition. (PRNewsFoto/Flowers Communications Group)

Students from Nettlehorst Elementary School in Chicago learned about the importance of a healthy diet and exercise with their good friend, The Striped Vegetarius, one of the Chartwells-Thompson characters in the award-winning "Get Fit with Walgreens" program. Now in its third year, the Get Fit with Walgreens program is dedicated to reaching third graders with a curriculum that creatively addresses fitness and health issues in a fun and exciting way. The students exercise regularly, study the USDA food pyramid and the five food groups in a customized activity book and use a pedometer to measure their daily activity levels.

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The program is designed to help manage the obesity crisis among urban youth by encouraging students to better understand proper nutrition as well as motivate them to reap the program's lasting benefits. Launched by Walgreens in 2004 in partnership with Chicago Public Schools and Chartwells-Thompson Hospitality, the program was initially targeted at African-American elementary students in 15 schools. However, this year the scope has been expanded to include Hispanic students in a total of 30 city and suburban public schools.