In 2010, National Association for Sport and Physical Activity suggested activity be offered throughout the school day to help meet national recommendations for an hour of physical activity daily for children. The Association encouraged schools to schedule physical activity breaks, including physical activities during academic classes, to create opportunities for students to be active between classes. The rationale for physical activity breaks during the school day is that it increases mental alertness by providing children and youth an opportunity to be active and take a break from sedentary activities in the classroom (e.g., sitting, reading).

Bismarck, North Dakota, took this advice and ran with it, developing a unique local collaborative that produced their own videos to get the kids moving during their school day. Some unexpected partners helped make this a truly professional job. The local public access television station donated time, space, and editing assistance. The local university donated student time for filming, producing and editing, and children at all the local elementary schools competed to be part of the second round of videos. The five-minute videos are posted on YouTube and can be used by teachers to “wake up” their classrooms by providing short activity breaks for students.

What began as a Mayors’ task force to improve health for both cities evolved into a community coalition to allow for more flexibility. While many coalitions limit themselves to creating a vision for change, this one was not content to just propose an idea and hope that it happens. They are a ‘working coalition’ with members who are willing and able to roll up their sleeves and work on the particulars of an idea. 

At meetings, the group has regular progress reports on the details of particular goals. Each sub-group provides information on the status and challenges of implementing a public health goal. This creates a sense of accountability within the group, but also allows for ideas to come from unexpected places. For example, the local schools wanted to increase fruit and vegetable consumption among students. All around the country, schools are adding salad bars, planting gardens and providing nutrition education to slow the epidemic of childhood obesity. In Bismarck, the school nurses program decided to create enthusiasm for healthy eating by linking food choices to the rainbow. Each day, students were asked to wear a particular color to school: red on Monday meant the students were offered strawberries, blue on Tuesday, blueberries. And the kids ate it up (pun intended). In fact, the class with the most participation got to film their own “Burst of Activity” video and have it posted. 

Creative thinking, a willingness to get the details done, and an enthusiastic and unaffiliated coalition have begun the long work to make healthy choices easy in Bismarck.