St. Fabian Third-Graders Celebrate with DQ Cones

Despite Monday's cloudy, cool weather, a group of students were all smiles as they walked from their school to at 12 Mile and Farmington roads.

The trip celebrated a special achievement: taking third place in this year's Oakland County "Count Your Steps" (CYS) program. St. Fabian’s students walked an average 179,115 per student, or 18,269,778 total steps.

For those who might think ice cream is a bad way to celebrate such a healthy accomplishment, St. Fabian physical education teacher Sue Kendall points out that Dairy Queen ice cream is low in fat. Also, students each received only a small cone—and they had to walk a full mile to get it.

Third-grade teacher Andrea Daniel said the school has placed in CYS every year since County Executive Brooks Patterson launched the exercise and nutrition program in 2004. Patterson aimed to encourage Oakland County kids to become active and make proper nutrition choices.

That combination, Daniel said, is right in line with what kids are already taught at St. Fabian.

"We promote healthy eating and healthy lifestyles from day one," she said.

Daniel's classroom finished first among all participating third-grade classes. During the month of March, students did a 10-minute activity using their pedometers and counted the vegetables and fruits they ate. The children also got their parents involved.

"It's exciting when a kid says, 'I ate five vegetables last night!'" Daniel said.