When Cape students go to the cafeteria, they have more food choices than ever before, and Cape Director of Child Nutrition Cheryle Lord-Gordon is making sure those choices are healthier and more appealing than ever.
Cafeteria lines have taken on a food court theme: among other choices, students can now choose a Subway-like sandwich line or the Cape-otle taco line, selecting their own fixings and deciding themselves what they will eat.
In a state where nearly a third of high-school students is obese, providing healthy lunches with plenty of fruits and vegetables is helping students develop healthy lifestyles – and Cape is taking a leading role in this effort.
Still, encouraging students to eat healthy is critical, but it's not enough. Children also need vigorous exercise to build muscles and bones. Yet, at a time when opportunities to play sports is vital, opportunities for team play have disappeared for many kids.
Intramurals once provided opportunities for all students, not only the most highly skilled, to sign up for a team and play, learning the rules while developing coordination and basic skills like throwing, catching and running. Today at Cape, there is no intramural program. If you're not on a varsity or junior varsity team, you don't play school sports.
Most students on the high school roster have spent years playing outside school, on club teams and traveling teams and going to camps, all paid for by their parents. Many children on their way to obesity are not going to sports camps, and they are also not showing up on varsity rosters.
Varsity sports are a great, community-building tradition at Cape, one that has given many athletes opportunities for successful collegiate careers. Still, all Cape students deserve and need opportunities to experience the excitement of being on a team and working together to score a goal, make a basket or, with luck, win a game.
Cape should bring back organized intramurals, which along with classes on wellness, could transform the district's physical education and health curriculum.
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Editorials are considered and written by Cape Gazette Editorial Board members, including Publisher Chris Rausch, Editor Jen Ellingsworth, News Editor Nick Roth and reporters Ron MacArthur and Chris Flood.
