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Southwest Elementary Participates in Global Exercise Program

Kids and staff at Southwest Elementary School recently participated in the national All Children Exercising Simultaneously program. Click through our photos to see what your kids did at school that day!

Did you know that May was National Physical Fitness and Sports Month?

Well, the kids at kicked off the month last week during their first annual opportunity participating in the global ACES program, All Children Exercising Simultaneously.

On the first Wednesday in May each year at 10 a.m. local time, over 7 million children from all 50 states and as many as 45 foreign countries exercise at the same time for a minimum of 15 minutes, says Southwest Elementary School principal

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"The purpose of ACES is to call attention to the importance of youth fitness in a fun, non-competitive atmosphere. There are many ways that you can exercise," said Bogdan to the students before the ACES program began. "We hope that you will find fun and exciting ways to exercise so you can lead an active and healthy lifestyle," Bodgan told the kids.

Started by New Jersey physical education teacher Len Saunders, Project ACES started in 1989. He wanted to get one school in every state to exercise at the same time on a specific day in May to motivate his physical education classes to exercise. The program was also designed to show the importance of Physical Education in school, according to the Project ACES Website.

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Southwest kids spent two minutes each at seven stations that had different activities. They switched when "Coach" Principal Bogdan blew her whistle.

No stranger to ACES, Bogdan was happy to bring this program to Southwest. "We did this at my previous district," Bogdan said. "Kids don't go out and play anymore! It's a great opportunity to get the kids out," and help prevent childhood obesity, she said.

The 25th annual global event will occur at 10 a.m. local time, Wednesday, May 1, 2013.

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