by Jacqueline Ostfeld, Sierra Club's National Youth Representative
Let’s Move Outside!! That was the theme of Monday’s South Lawn Series event at the White House. Sierra Club joined members of OAK (Outdoors Alliance for Kids) and the First Lady’s Let’s Move campaign to inspire kids to get physically active through nature-based outdoor activities. Seventy-five students from Washington DC’s Thurgood Marshall High School had the opportunity to kayak, rock climb, mountain bike, camp and fly fish at a variety of stations led by members of OAK and agency officials on the White House grounds.
I was joined by Nicole Veltre (Sierra Club’s Baltimore Inner City Outings Chair) and Kokei Otosi (Sierra Club’s Best Intern on Earth) at the event. Sierra Club helped out at a kayak demonstration station with the National Park Service. Students learned paddling techniques, how to properly carry a kayak and what the acronym PFD stands for – personal flotation device. Kokei got some great footage of the event. Stay tuned!
For over a year, the First Lady has been encouraging kids to improve their health through proper diet and exercise. Last June, as part of her effort to end childhood obesity in one generation, Mrs. Obama announced the Let’s Move Outside! program to encourage kids to get physically fit in our parks, yards and other green spaces. The Department of the Interior has been supporting the program, too, and sent lot’s of outdoors experts to help out at the event.
Once all the students had an opportunity to test out the rock wall, I had a chance, too. Robin Schepper, Executive Director of the Let's Move campaign joined me for a climb in front of the White House.
