About 25 third-graders at Woodmont Academy in Cooksville eagerly raced to get their weight of choice at the beginning of class and immediately began their 10-lap warm-up run inside the school's gym. The students ran around the gym - many pumping their arms with the added resistance to increase the level of difficulty for their workout.
At first glance, a passer-by might not realize that the weights the students were using were canned goods brought by them to eventually be donated to the needy. The activity is part of the Get Fit to Feed program, which is an effort by the school's physical-education teachers - Pam Geier and Regina Smutz - to combine fitness and giving.
"The school is very strong on doing good things for people," said Smutz, who thought of the concept after she read an article about using canned goods for weight training at home. "And we're always looking for ways to freshen up exercise. This is the perfect marriage."
John Farrell, principal of the 258-student independent Catholic school, enthusiastically supports the effort.
"I think it's a wonderful idea," Farrell said. "It's not just a one-track type of thing. This is an individual effort for spirit and body. It doesn't get much better than that."
Each student was asked to donate two canned goods during the monthlong activity. Before the cans are given to Our Daily Bread, a pantry based in Baltimore, the students are using them to add weight resistance in a variety of exercises.
"Two cans alone isn't much," said Smutz, who has taught at the school in Howard County since it opened in 1995. "But when everyone brings in two cans, then you make a difference. It's the power of numbers."
The students have brought in close to 300 cans so far. The teachers expect to donate the cans later this month.
Smutz and Geier allow the students to invent their own exercises incorporating the cans as weights. After the students complete their run, they form lines and the teachers call on students to go to the front of the class and lead the other students in an exercise of choice. In Geier's third-grade class, one student decided to do jumping jacks with a can in each hand; another student did push-ups off the cans; a third student placed two cans on his stomach and did crunches.
"It has been awesome," Smutz said. "The exercises show creativity. They are more than happy to do it. Our purpose is to have them do more than they thought they could do."
