News

Students at YISD are making healthy choices

February 15, 2018

Students at Ysleta Independent School District (YISD) are leading a more healthy and active lifestyle these days, due to the coordinated approach of students, campus staff, and student families that are learning the Coordinated Approach To Child Health or CATCH program. With support from the Paso del Norte Health Foundation’s (Health Foundation), HEAL Initiative and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, YISD was able to implement the CATCH program over two years in 37 elementary schools, reaching approximately 18,500 students. CATCH is a school-based program that helps schools build environments that teach, support, and encourage healthy habits for a lifetime. Schools learn to integrate health and nutrition education across subjects and boosts physical activity during the school day with movement in the classroom and higher quality physical education. After two years, the CATCH program has shown a positive impact:

• Time spent in moderate-to-physical-activity (MVPA) in P.E. classes increased 84%.
• Students who scored in the healthy fitness zone for aerobic capacity increased significantly from 47% to 63%.
• Students showed increases in fruit and vegetable consumption, drinking water, and choosing lower-fat milk over whole milk.

Click here for a full summary of the report. “CATCH is a best practice program that the Health Foundation has supported for nearly two decades. We appreciate YISD’s leadership in adopting the program in their district,” says Michael Kelly, Vice President of Programs, Paso del Norte Health Foundation. “We know that it works.” Results show that YISD is making an investment in systemic change for the health of their students now and in the future. For more information on the CATCH or the HEAL Initiative, contact Jana Renner, Program Officer, Paso del Norte Health Foundation at jrenner@pdnhf.org or 915-218-2616.

Click here to view students at LaBarron Park Elementary School, YISD participating in the CATCH program with other students and their parents.