Woodsdale Elementary’s Focus on Fitness Earns School $2,500

photo by: Joselyn King

Students at Woodsdale Elementary School wait to learn whether their school was a winner in the West Virginia Healthy Habits competition on Friday.

WHEELING — There has been a push toward fitness for students and community members at Woodsdale Elementary School in recent years, and the effort won the school $2,500.

On Friday, state officials and representatives from AETNA Better Health came to the school to inform students the school had won the top prize in the West Virginia Healthy Habits school contest, netting $2,500.

Courtney Droginske, physical education teacher at the school, heard about the contest during the summer and approached the school’s fitness committee about entering. Those involved determined they already had many fitness efforts in place, including the school’s annual “Let’s Play 5K Run/Walk” through the neighborhood and its yearly “Mental Health Field Day.”

The school also has a running club, a walking club and a newer playground.

Droginske added there was no doubt the school should enter the contest.

“It was really a group effort,” she said. “We have a wellness community here that we started last year, and this will give us more opportunities to create healthy habits for our students.”

With the winnings, the school plans to purchase an interactive projector for the gym to help students with fitness and enhance their reading and math skills, she noted.

The next challenge for the school was to tell its fitness story in video form and submit it for the competition. This involved help from the school’s media instructor, Addie Boggs.

The inaugural West Virginia Healthy Habits School Contest, sponsored by AETNA Better Health, was dedicated to recognizing and celebrating the efforts of schools across West Virginia who are making significant strides in improving health outcomes for students – both within their school communities and beyond.

Among those attending to present the $2,500 check were Sherri Young; secretary of the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources; Jim Smallridge, director of community development with Aetna Better Health of West Virginia; and Joshua Grant, coordinator of physical education for West Virginia.

“I am super proud of Miss Courtney, our PE teacher,” Principal Ashlea Minch said. “Our students and staff are getting on board with our wellness initiative. It started right around COVID – a push to find healthier things for our kids to do.

“I truly believe when you are more exercised you have more energy and you learn better. Exercise and learning go hand and hand.”

Ohio County Schools Superintendent Kim Miller said the award was “an exceptional example of what our teachers are capable of doing at this awesome school.”

“It’s amazing – the amount of community input at this school right here in the neighborhood,” she noted. “The school involves the community, and they focus on good health and healthy practices as well as academics.”