Thanks to the FitWit Nation and so many other supporters of the Foundation, many smiling and proud faces abound! Hilton and Elijah, who have completed their “ABC” push ups- forwards and backwards, now show the universal sign of strength! And take a look at many more smiling faces in our clap up after some fitness fun!
The FitWit Foundation doesn’t slow down with the end of school semesters; we officially kicked off our FitKids Summer Fitness program at the Study Hall on June 7th! The program will run through July 14th and we get to facilitate 76 kids, ages K-5th grade in some sunny fitness programs! For more information about the Foundation’s summer program or how to volunteer, please contact: michelle@fitwit.com.
And for more information on the programs and mission of the Study Hall, visit: www.thestudyhall.org
Josh speaks to Witt Nation 2010 from Wittenberg University where Josh and Ben met. The footage was shot during our program with The Study Hall summer of 2010. This summer at The Study Hall, Michelle leads five trainers to bring fitness to 80 kids twice a week.
The FitWit Foundation (TFF) proudly announces the Most Improved Fitness winner of its Spring 2011 FitTeens fitness competition at Grady High School (GHS). The Most Improved Fitness winner, Tyler Booker, age 16, improved her total fitness ability by an impressive 50.1%. Booker is one of 32 students and 13 faculty and staff members of GHS who attended a six-week fitness camp from 14 April to 20 May 2011. The camp, provided by TFF, consisted of four one-hour group workout sessions each week led by certified fitness trainers.
(L-R) Benjamin Thoele, Director of The FitWit Foundation Director; Tyler Booker, Grady HS Student and FitTeens Most Improved Fitness Winner; Michelle Woods, FitTeens Program Director
Booker even impressed herself with her accomplishments. “I can’t believe I did that,” says Booker, “It went by so fast, so I can’t believe I got better so quickly—and I have never seen or tried most of the exercises we did! My family is so proud of me and asks me to show them exercises now.” Booker, a junior, plans to base her senior project presentation on the subject of developing fitness next semester.
Taylor Booker, Tyler’s twin sister, also participated in the FitTeens program. Taylor earned the coveted Camper of the Week award at the halfway point of the program for having perfect weekly attendance, a great attitude, and exhibiting outstanding effort.
The FitWit Foundation also awarded Kim Carr, school nurse at GHS, the Educator Leadership Award for exemplifying the fit lifestyle, exceptional participation and commitment to the program.
(L-R) Michelle Woods, FitTeens Program Director; Nurse Kim Carr, Grady HS School Nurse and Recipient of The FitWit Foundation Educator Leadership Award; Benjamin Thoele, Director of The FitWit Foundation
The FitTeens program promotes a noncompetitive environment where fitness can be fun. The objectives of the program are to develop the habits and mindset of personal development, continuous improvement, goal setting; increase participant fitness abilities by an average of 25%; develop skill mastery in four basic exercises (push-up, sit-ups, squats, and jump rope), and gain exposure to a variety of fitness activities; associate fitness activity with fun, and average greater than 3.5 hours of fitness activity per week per participant.
All FitTeens participants improved their performances in each exercise markedly, but Booker achieved the greatest overall improvement across all exercises. As a whole, the group improved their fitness ability by an average of 39.8%.
Spring 2011 FitTeens Participants at Grady High School
More local press: http://eastatlanta.patch.com/articles/fit-for-a-teen
“We watch them get to the point where they’re taking ownership for their own improvement,” Thoele said.
“When they’re saying, ‘I can do better than that; let me try.’”
FitTeens is not just about the physical exercise, though. The first of five main goals is actually personal development for the teens and instilling the values of goal setting. Then comes increasing physical abilities, then achieving mastery of core exercises so they could teach someone else, then having fun, and lastly, just making sure they show up every day.
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FitWit is an Atlanta company, created by Josh and Erin Guerrieri in 2005. At the time, both Josh and Erin were teaching and coaching in inner-city Atlanta Public Schools, and they saw the need for quality fitness and tutoring programs for the students they served. The combination of these two programs — personal fitness training (FIT) and academic tutoring (WIT) — proved to be an effective blend in addressing a traditionally underserved student population.
The FitWit Foundation (TFF) began in 2008 with a group of people committed to fitness and improving the lives of children in the Metro-Atlanta area. Ben Thoele President and Director After separating from the Air Force in 2007, Ben moved to Atlanta to help found The FitWit Foundation with his good friends Josh and Erin Guerrieri. Ben [...]
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The FitWit Foundation (TFF) began in 2008 with a group of people committed to fitness and improving the lives of children in the Metro-Atlanta area. The Foundation modeled its first programs after the boot-camp style fitness camps of FitWit LLC. Continue Reading...
