M2ES hailed PHL’s 2nd best implementer of Nestle Wellness Campus Program
Teacher III, M2ES
The Malagasang II Elementary School (M2ES) of the Schools Division Office of Imus City won second place in the nationwide search of Nestlé Philippines for 2018 Wellness Campus Best Implementing Schools.
In a statement, Mrs. Cristina M. Ben, school principal, said the wellness award boosts the school’s morale in its quest for holistic development of the school children and its stakeholders.
“Health and wellness are the keys to the holistic development of the children. Thru proper nutrition and physical fitness, our pupils’ physical and mental development will improve. Our Wellness Campus program was crafted to make wellness a lifestyle to affect the entire school and the surrounding communities. The effort that we put in our Wellness Campus program is all worth it,” Ben said.
The Nestle Wellness Campus program serves to educate public school students and their parents on how to live a healthy life, by choosing healthier food and drink options and physical activity all year round.
Health is wealth so instead of unhealthy thirst-quenching drinks and calorie-loaded, easy-to-cook processed food, M2ES pupils and teachers habitually prepare detox beverages and low-cost meals with vegetables produced from the garden. In M2ES, health and wellness lifestyle need not be expensive.
Ben also said that once one is committed to a wellness lifestyle, “the cost of fresh and nutritious meal comes in second to the quality of food we put into our body.”
“The effect of our health and wellness program are evident among our parents who started to prepare nutritious meals and snacks that contain more fruits and vegetables in their daily meals. After the stakeholders’ tour in the school’s organic garden, majority of them decide to make their own backyard plots,” the school principal added.
M2ESians get their daily dose of calorie burning exercise before or after each subject area as energizers while teachers and other stakeholders go for Zumba in school.
Through the school’s Health and Wellness Facebook page, the call for wellness lifestyle reached friends from all over the Philippines and in return received support as far as the USA, Germany, Canada and Japan.
“We shall not rest on our laurels, M2ES will continue to campaign for wellness to become the latest fad among others, too. Health and wellness shall become a lifestyle,” said Mr. Arman P. Tanyag, M2ES Health and Wellness coordinator.
The school’s health and wellness campaign were so effective that Nestle Philippines decided to adapt the M2ES’ Panatang Pinggang Pinoy and Wellness Campus jingle.
“The Pinggang Pinoy and Wellness Campus jingle are original compositions from me and Mr. Erland B. Monzon,” Tanyag said.
In 2017, M2ES landed eighth place in the Nestle Wellness Campus program national level.
The regular health and wellness activities in M2ES received overwhelming support from its stakeholders including the barangay officials, SDO Imus City, DepEd Region IV-A, the local government and provincial government, the office of the 3rd district representative of Cavite, Philippine National Police, CDRRMO Imus City, as well as the non-government organizations such as the Rotary Club of Bacoor and South Korea and Kabalikat Civicom and public establishments like McDonalds, Maynilad, Avon and the Union Bankers of Imus City.
Nestle Wellness Campus highlights of the program include various nutrition modules taught in schools. Topics range from managing portions; choosing nutritious and varied options (Pinggang Pinoy, Go, Grow and Glow foods); and moving more, sitting less. Pinggang Pinoy is a concept from the Food and Nutrition Research Institute which is an easy-to-understand food guide that illustrates the right food portions per meal to meet the energy and nutrient needs of Filipinos. Go, Grow and Glow foods are carbohydrates, proteins, and vegetables and fruits, respectively.
Aside from the nutrition modules, the program also includes a Wellness song and dance that is performed daily after flag ceremony as part of the students’ regular exercise routine.
“Lastly, cooperation and determination are a must. A well-planned Wellness Campus Program is useless without the unity of the school and community,” Ben said.