At a time when schools have cut back on PE and sometimes serve less-than-healthy fare in the cafeteria, one Miami-Dade school got a pat on the back from the highest-ranking health official in the U.S. government.
On Wednesday at Nautilus Middle School in Miami Beach, Acting U.S. Surgeon General Rear Adm. Steven K. Galson toured the ''wellness center,'' a collection of Sony PlayStation-equipped treadmills, motion-sensor dance games and a rock-climbing wall. Students can watch podcasts of math lessons as they work out.
He pronounced it a fine example of merging technology and fitness to keep children fit and healthy.
''This is impressive,'' he said of the setting, the first of its kind at a Miami-Dade middle school. ``And this is important.''
Most of the school's 1,020 students started using it is a mandatory part of gym class two weeks ago.
''They love it,'' said PE teacher Alton Strachan. ``They have an opportunity to work out and not even know what's going on. It makes my job a whole lot easier.''
The school gave students fitness tests in late January and will do the same at the end of April. The center was funded by a Carol M. White Physical Education Grant. As part of the grant's provisions, officials need to assess the children to see if the equipment is having an impact on their lives.
Six more centers in middle schools are being built.
The equipment will also be available to the school's disabled students.
''Our children are visual learners,'' said School Board member Martin Karp. ``Rather than fight that, here's an opportunity to use it.''
The 1,200-square-foot room, formerly used for weight-training, was renovated for $50,000.
''In a video arcade, kids just use their thumbs,'' said Principal Allyn Bernstein. ``This is the first time I've seen kids sweating and smiling.''
Galson used the center's equipment and held a question-and-answer session with 15 randomly selected seventh- and eighth-graders.
He spoke about his children, his travels and gave them career advice.
He then presented the school with a ''Healthy Youth for a Healthy Future'' award.
''This will not just affect their bodies, but it will also have an impact on their academic achievement,'' said Jayne Greenberg, who runs the School Board's physical education health literacy office.
Nautilus was the last of three stops Galson made in Miami. On Wednesday morning, he spoke to 250 doctors in town for the National Childhood Obesity Congress, part of a weekend conference hosted by the National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality.
On Tuesday, he sat in on a roundtable with the state surgeon general, members of the Miami-Dade Department of Health, Health Council of South Florida, The Children's Trust and others to discuss ways to combat obesity in South Florida.
As part of his initiative, Galson aims to visit 30 communities before the year is over. Miami was his second.
''I'm very deeply impressed,'' Galson said. ``There is no better equipment anywhere else than the equipment they have here.''
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 17.4 percent of 12- through 19-year-olds are overweight -- nearly one in five.
One CDC-cited study showed that 80 percent of children who are overweight from the ages of 10-15 are obese -- a more extreme weight condition -- by the time they're 25.
Other studies have linked the physical inertia of video games with obesity.
''I like it a lot,'' said 14-year-old eighth-grader Robin Reynolds. ``Now I can play my games and get the amount of exercise I need every day.''
