TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Students Take Steps To Better Health

ADVERTISEMENT

By COURTNEY CAIRNS PASTOR

cpastor@tampatrib.com

Published: December 3, 2008

LUTZ - It was a little bit bouncing, a little bit waving, a little bit stepping and a whole lot of heart-pounding.

Twenty minutes into a Zumba class with third-graders, Lutz Elementary teacher Victoria Morse paused the music and told the children to put their hands on their hearts and feel them thumping fast.

"That's what you need to be doing every day," she said. "If you're sitting in front of a computer, can that get this going as much as it's going now? Probably not."

Morse took time out from her regular job as a second-grade teacher at Lutz to lead a guest Zumba lesson in her son's class at the school. She was one of hundreds of volunteers last month who participated in Hillsborough County's annual Great American Teach-In.

Morse started Zumba for fitness a year and a half ago and now teaches the Latin dance routines to her pupils as well as teachers after school at Lutz and Martinez Middle. She wanted to bring it to the Teach-In to promote healthy living.

The children brainstormed other ways they could get exercise. They could do jumping jacks or dance the Cha-Cha Slide, they suggested, or throw footballs.

"I love to exercise, and it has been a part of my life since I was your age," Morse told the students. "Not only am I working my heart and building my muscles, but I'm having fun at the same time."

Third-grade teachers Tara Young and Michelle Logan surprised their classes by dancing along dressed as Dr. Seuss's Thing 1 and Thing 2.

"You've got the rhythm," Logan told her class as they mimed drumming in the air.

Morse's son, 9-year-old Wilson, joined his class to Zumba with his mother. He said he prefers to play football, but he giggled along with his classmates as they tried out fancy footwork, jumps and hand motions. Children peeled off their sweatshirts as they heated up from the dance.

Daniel Knox, a third-grader, twisted like he was hula-hooping.

"Whoa," he said. "I feel like a tornado."

Reporter Courtney Cairns Pastor can be reached at (813) 865-1503.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT