Comprehensive wellness program launched in YISD

A comprehensive approach to health just launched at more than a dozen campuses in the Ysleta Independent School District.

This school year marked the implementation of the CATCH (Coordinated Approach To Child Health) program at 14 Ysleta ISD elementary schools.

According to officials with the CATCH Global Foundation, CATCH is considered the most cost-effective means of preventing childhood obesity and improving child health.

One of the campuses that is participating in the CATCH program is Cadwallader Elementary. ABC-7 visited the campus during the fifth grade students’ physical education class. They were playing a game with a large, rainbow-colored parachute. The game is called Shark Attack, in which two students under the parachute — the sharks — pull their classmates underneath with them while two other students try to rescue them.

“That was actually my favorite game,” said Julianna Valles. “I like the suspense and going under the parachute.”

Physical education teacher Adrian Lopez and the other coaches have refined the art of using entertainment to conceal learning.

“It has to be memorable. It has to be fun,” said Lopez. “No one wants to come to PE when they’re just doing sit-ups and push-ups. When you do something fun, they don’t realize they’re getting a good workout.”

This new and different approach is encouraged under the CATCH program, said Sonia Noriega, the lead teacher for YISD’s health and physical education program.

“This is a program that will help educate the students and catch them early on so that they don’t lead in that direction (of childhood obesity). They can lead a healthier lifestyle instead,” Noriega added.

The CATCH program doesn’t simply focus on physical education. But coaches will be spearheading the program in the schools.

“It includes the cafeteria staff. It influences what posters we put on the walls, and it involves the parents (by) educating the parents and taking it back home,” said Noriega.

Noriega told ABC-7 that she thinks CATCH validates the importance of PE in schools, adding, “Study after study shows healthy kids attend school more often. And so they learn (more) and do better in school.”

Julianna Valles is one student already on board.

“I just like getting exercise and being strong,” she said as she smiled and flexed her arms.

YISD officials expect to implement the CATCH program at the district’s remaining elementary schools next year.