Michelle Obama Honors CSUN Students for Effort to Combat Childhood Obesity

The founders of a wellness program in San Fernando were honored at the White House Thursday by first lady Michelle Obama for a video they made that received the most online votes in a national competition highlighting efforts to help reduce childhood obesity.

California State University, Northridge, kinesiology professor Steven Loy and his students spent more than a year working with San Fernando Recreation and Community Services Department Operations Manager Ismael Aguila and his staff to design a free fitness program at the city's Recreation Park. As conceived, it would dispel the misconception that one needs to join a fitness center or be a serious athlete to stay healthy.

The program, "100 Citizens," which began in 2011, "has revitalized an underutilized park with an unsafe reputation to what the community refers to now as 'Fitness Park,'" said Aguila, an alumnus of Northridge's Department of Kinesiology.

"100 Citizens" was such a success that Loy was soon asked by officials from the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation and Pasadena to replicate it at four other parks.

The video "100 Citizens: Role Models for the Future" was submitted to Let's Move! Communities on the Move, a challenge begun by Obama that invited faith-based and community organizations to share their stories about their efforts to promote wellness and solve the problem of childhood obesity in their communities.

Videos from 21 states were submitted and "100 Citizens: Role Models for the Future" won the Popular Choice Award.

Loy said he hopes the national attention will encourage educators at other universities to recognize that they have tremendous resources on their campuses in their kinesiology students, who can share what they have learned in the classroom about health and wellness, and design fitness programs that meet the needs of the residents in their areas.

Loy is seeking a sponsor to help expand Northridge's program across the CSU system.

"Our program can be replicated and sustained from other universities in the community's public parks," Loy said.

"You don't need to be a special institution or a special city. What you do need is to put in some time and effort, meet with the community and listen to what they feel they need, and then work with community leaders to design a program that fits those needs. It can be done. We did it, and we can help others do it too."