Making light work of the One Million Steps project, sixth class students from seven local primary schools made a total of 10,451,200 steps over the course of 18 school days in October.

This equates to 580,622 steps per day, and an average of 3,770 steps per child per day at school. Using step counters and equipment sponsored by Fermoy Credit Union, the schools were able to record the daily number of steps taken and have a fun incentive to get active.

The project, organised by Jacinta McCormack, Community Health Worker with Fermoy Community Health Project, comprised of seven schools in the Fermoy area: Adair National School, Bishop Murphy Memorial School, Clondulane National School, Gaelscoil de hÍde, Grange National School, Presentation Primary School and St Joseph’s National School.

At the end of each school day, the students would check the number of steps they’d taken so that their teacher could fill in the tracker board over the course of the month.

Speaking to students and teachers at the presentation ceremony in Fermoy Community Youth Centre, Ms McCormack praised the schools for their involvement in the campaign and spoke of the benefits to being active.

“Being healthy and taking roughly between 5,000 and 10,000 steps per day will help you have strong muscles and bones, help you sleep better, and will give you better concentration while you’re at school. So, making a small difference to your day and keeping active is very good for you,” she said.

It is hoped that this initiative will become an annual project, as Ms McCormack said the students 'exceeded their expectations and enjoyed it considerably'. A YouTube video, titled ‘The Fermoy Schools One Million Steps Challenge’, further explains the project and its aims.

blog comments powered by Disqus