Healthy goal
Physical-education teacher Guy Garrison energetically jumps through hoops at his Brooklyn elementary school in an all-out campaign against childhood obesity.
Garrison, 55, started basketball, track and double-Dutch teams for boys and girls alike at PS 54 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, and set up indoor and outdoor tracks.
He says his goal is to instill in the students “an awareness of health and wanting to be healthy, and control your weight and be strong and active and mentally sharp.”
He’s even suggested the kids consider “healthy soda”: equal parts fruit juice and seltzer.
To raise money last year to support the teams, the school held a fund-raiser with New York Road Runners.
“We did a 26-mile walk/jog-a-thon over a period of a month. We walked and jogged every morning, got sponsors — some giving 10 cents a mile — and we earned $1,500,” Garrison said.
The Alliance for a Healthier Generation nominated Garrison for a New York Post Liberty Medal in the Educator category.
“For positive changes to really stick over time, they need to be accepted by students and reinforced by passionate, creative educators like Guy Garrison,” said Ginny Ehrlich, AHG’s executive director.
