Grange Elementary
School Presented $10,000 Grant
- Article
& photo by Lena Sala
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Raven
cheerleaders and Shellie Pfohl
present a check to Grange Elementary School Principal Rosalie Daddura.
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NFL Ravens
Cheerleaders joined Shellie Pfohl, executive director of the
President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, to present Grange
Elementary School with a $10,000 grant for being named one out of 32
NFL Play 60 Super Schools nationwide. One school from each NFL District
was chosen as a winner. This project is a joint campaign between United
Way of Central Maryland and the NFL to promote a healthy and fit
lifestyle by encouraging young people to get 60 minutes of exercise per
day.
For 85 years, United Way of Central Maryland (UWCM) has been the area’s
human service leader supporting programs and initiatives in the city of
Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard
counties to help people in the community ultimately achieve a better
quality of life.
According to Grange Elementary School Principal Rosalie Daddura, the
grant money is going to be used towards health and fitness programming
or equipment at the school.
Many excited students wearing purple and black filled the gymnasium
during the Dec. 7 assembly. Teachers joined in on the excitement by
performing a variety of dance moves and chants with the children to get
everyone pumped for their outstanding achievement and for the arrival
of the Baltimore Ravens cheerleading squad. During the assembly, a
student representative from each grade went up on stage to personally
ask the cheerleaders a question relating to health and wellness, as
well as what they wanted for Christmas this year. One of the squad
members responded by saying she would like a trip to the Super Bowl in
her stocking. Ravens tight end Todd Heap was scheduled to make a
special appearance at the event but due to his hamstring injury he
sustained in the Sunday, Dec. 5 game, he unfortunately had to cancel.
However, he has stated he will reschedule his visit within the next few
weeks during a special assembly to congratulate students and perform a
variety of exercises with them. Heap also donated and personally
autographed an NFL football to Grange in place of his absence that will
be placed inside the school’s front showcase for all to enjoy.
In order to win the Back to Football Friday challenge, students were
required to write essays describing what health and fitness meant to
them and how they would use the $10,000 at their school.
Students and teachers also had to take six photographs that captured
their support of the Baltimore Ravens and demonstrated exactly what
Grange is all about.
“All of this would not have been made possible without two very special
people, Physical Education teacher Jeff Tolson who originally went
about the idea of entering Grange into the challenge, and dance teacher
Amy Miller, who took the time out to create one essay that captured the
voices of all the students,” explained Pfohl.
According to Tolson, students began working on their essays back on
Sept. 10 of this year and during this time they also dedicated
countless hours creating floats and purple Raven signs to be used in
the photographs that were later posted onto an online web site to be
judged in the challenge.
In a Dec. 7 press release, it noted more than 5,500 schools across the
country entered the Back to Football Friday contest.
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