Life Lessons with Fuel Up to Play 60

Fuel Up to Play 60 is such a great program, and is so easy and beneficial for everyone…no matter their age. It is very important to me and I am trying to lead the change at the middle school level.

I first got involved with Fuel Up to Play 60 when I was at the end of 4th grade and I was hooked! In 5th grade, we did our first Plays: an FUTP 60 Field Day and we got a grant for Breakfast in the Classroom. Last year, in 6th grade, I moved to the middle school, and it was really hard because the program at the middle school was kind of non-existent. I decided to meet with the principal along with our District’s Food Service Director, our local New England Dairy Council representative, and my mom. I convinced them to let me start the program. Since the meeting went so well, I gathered a couple former and new team members to help me and we organized our first Play…a Breakfast Taste Test during the lunch periods.

It has been a goal of mine to become a State Ambassador for Fuel Up to Play 60 and attend a national Student Ambassador Summit, especially after being able to attend the New England Regional Summit last summer. While I am still working on becoming a State Ambassador, because of my leadership and dedication with getting the program going at my school, I was offered a scholarship to go to the Summit in Chicago this past July.

I learned a lot of important lessons at the Summit, a few of which I will list:

1. First and foremost, define your “limits”, surpass your “limits”, and realize you have NO LIMITS!
2. Next up is – Everything and everyone has untapped potential…you just have to be willing to get your hands dirty to find it! You may think something is hopeless, but there is always something you can do!
3. This is an important one: Things may not always turn out the way you want them to, but that doesn’t mean you can’t go forward and make something of it!
4. Success comes to those who work for it….which is a great thing to keep in mind when working on a really hard project.
5. Lastly, I learned some amazing media and interview skills thanks to a Northwestern University Course we attended while there. I intend to use those new skills if and when I am interviewed about the program and this is one new skill I intend to bring back to my school.

There are many ideas that I am planning to bring back to my school this year:

1. A “make your own original salsa” activity (inspired by Chef Remmi), which would be a great back to school kickoff event.
2. A spin-off of the Fuel Greatness videos (to use later in the year), which could be done by homeroom teams.
3. I would love to bring in some local athletes, coaches, doctors and possibly nutrition experts to speak at an assembly.
4. I am also aiming to see if we schedule all the students to have a chance weekly to log on to the FUTP 60 website to be able to track their activity and healthy eating choices. My school has a required CAPS (computer applications) class and I am going to see if that would be a possibility once a week during that class.
5. I am hoping to get our school FUTP 60 program some publicity and use the media/interview skills that I mentioned earlier. This would hopefully get the word out and inspire others to start the program at their school as well.

All of these are great ideas that anyone can do. Like I said earlier, it’s very important to have dreams and never forget success comes to those who work hard for it. EVERYONE and EVERYTHING has untapped potential…you just have to be willing to DIG A LITTLE TO FIND IT! If you really want to reach a big goal (like becoming an Ambassador and attending a Summit), you really only need to remember & do one thing: believe in yourself!

Remember: Define your “limits”, Surpass your “limits”, and realize you have “NO LIMITS”….you can do it. BE THE CHANGE!

As my Nana says:

See It
Believe It
Achieve It

Cat
Summit Ambassador
Vermont
7th Grade