Tecumseh Holds its First Health and Wellness Fair

Health and fitness were on everyone's minds at Tecumseh Elementary School's first Health and Wellness Fair last week.

Tecumseh students and their families learned about eating healthy, taking better care of their bodies and staying active with the help of specialized vendors and demonstrations.

"The goal is to get our students to see how to lead a healthy, active lifestyle and make healthy choices," said Alicia Cohen, a reading teacher at Tecumseh and one of the coordinators of the fair. "Obesity is on the rise in America, especially with children...[so it's important] to teach children how to lead healthy lifestyles."

Companies such as Weight Watchers and Arbonne had information booths set up in the gymnasium. An esthetician gave free facials and advice on skincare, and other medical booths were there as well.

At her own booth, Mary Garcia, an author, promoted her first book about mobility loss called "Boo-Boo's New Leg." Garcia said that with every purchase of the book, a partial donation will be made to the Prosthetics Outreach Foundation and the Amputee Coalition of America. "I hope we help educate people to help prevent [mobility loss]," she said.

Popular vendors included Subway, Tropical Smoothie Cafe and Tastefully Simple, a company that sells easy-to-prepare foods, all of which gave out free food to fairgoers.

Students had the chance to learn how to ballroom dance from World Champion Lori Ann Greenhouse. Instructors from Zumba Fitness and Yoga for Everyone taught students techniques in class-like settings, and the Shaolin Kung Fu Health and Fitness Academy gave a martial arts demonstration.

Representatives from , a program that uses interactive game consoles such as the Nintendo Wii and the Xbox Kinect as a way to get children active, were also on-hand.

The Health and Wellness Fair was part of a week-long effort at Tecumseh to educate students on leading healthy lifestyles. Cohen and Jennifer Zane, also a reading teacher at Tecumseh and the other coordinator of the fair, said that if students were caught eating healthy snacks in lunch, they were entered in a raffle to win either a jump rope, or the grand prize, a kids' cookbook.

Students seemed to enjoy themselves with the demostrations, games and free food. "The Zumba was really fun," said 8-year-old Jennavieve Davis. Her sister Josephine, 10, got a facial and had only one word to describe it: awesome.

Along with their children, parents seemed ultimately happy with the fair and its overall message to promote health and well-being. "I think it's been really nice," said Denise Gray of Farmingville. "I think it's informative."

Cohen and Zane both said they were very happy with the turnout and the students' enthusiasm and involvement. Although the fair proved to be successful, Zane said Tecumseh also holds curriculum and author fairs, so this fair may be incorporated into a cycle, but it probably will not be held every year.

"We'd love to do it again," Zane said.