Hello, this is Prescott, a Student Ambassador over in New Hampshire. I’ve recently moved here from Minnesota, the state I represented at the FUTP 60 National Summit. In case you’re not sure or don’t remember, FUTP 60 is a national program launched by the NFL and National Dairy Council (NDC), with the goal of empowering students to help improve nutrition and physical activity at their schools. The program also awards grants to schools to make those healthy changes. I’ve been lucky enough to have a successful startup of FUTP 60 in an area where the only time they heard about FUTP 60 is the Super Bowl.
Here’s some advice on how to get FUTP 60 started in your school:
1. Meet with your Principal, and tell the district what you’re doing: The first essential thing is to talk with your principal or vice-principal about the program. I can’t stress enough on how important it is to tell your principal about FUTP 60 before you start. With the principal, you can figure out what the school can do with FUTP 60, as well as give a general idea on what the program is to the faculty and staff at your school.
2. Find a Program Advisor: Find one or two willing teachers, school faculty, or parent volunteers to become a Program Advisor. I would give the same talk to the future Program Advisors as you had with the principal, but make sure they know that as a Program Advisor they would write the grants as well as be the chaperone for all the members at meetings.
3. Contact your local Dairy Council: It helps to know what Dairy Council you’ll be under, because they can help you with steps after you have started. Usually, you can just look up the region you live in for your Dairy Council, (New England, Midwest), but some states do end up having their own (Maine, Florida). You can also find it on FuelUpToPlay60.com using this link.
4. Get the word out! This is one of the ways the Dairy Council can help you, as there are prize packs and tool kits to help you grab students’ attention. You can also make flyers and posters as well. Make sure to mention the partnership FUTP 60 with the NFL somehow in the flyers!
5. Use friends to your advantage: Use making friends to your benefit to attract members. Once you know people through your other activities you are in, such as soccer, dance, or Student Government, ask them to come to the first meeting, to support each other as friends. It also can be a great benefit if you get your coach involved with FUTP 60. He or she might tell the team to come to the meeting!
6. Hold your first FUTP 60 meeting: Use some of FUTP 60’s great YouTube videos at the beginning of the meeting, and then talk about the program. Get your new members set up on the website for the first time as well! Make sure that FUTP 60 meetings don’t conflict with any other extra circular activities, as that can lose members.
7. Find a Play: After that, have another meeting, but have it just for planning. Find two Plays from the Playbook that fit your school, one fitness based and another nutrition based. Make sure it’s something that everyone can agree on doing,
8. Kick-Off Plan: Plan your kick-off event, which should happen sometime in the months of October and November. Make sure it’s exciting and fun, as this is the public introduction to FUTP 60 at your school!
9. Kickoff Time! The kickoff event can be combined with another event going on, such as a High School football game. If you want a Dairy Farmer Q&A, that can work as well, as long as you can figure it out with your local Dairy Council how to have a Dairy Farmer come.
10. Finish your grant application: Have your FUTP 60 Play grant submitted by your Program Advisor. This is extremely important, as the deadline for the grant is early November, and one of the only ways to fund Plays.
So that’s all from me with advice so far. If you want more insights, go to the FUTP 60 website and check out all the information to help you get started! You can also email FUTP 60 for more detailed questions. Hope you can have a wonderful and fantastic FUTP 60 year using these steps!
Prescott
Summit Ambassador
New Hampshire
8th Grade
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