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Fuel Up program helps develop leadership skills

A Brownsburg High School Senior attributes her leadership development to participation in the Fuel Up To Play 60 program.

Abby Evans tells Brownfield because of the program, she was part of a group that developed healthy eating initiatives at school that benefit students.

“A lot of things we’ve done have also gone further to educate students to be able to do the things we do at school at their home to promote a healthier lifestyle as a whole,” she says.

Audio: Abby Evans, Fuel Up to Play 60 participant

National Dairy Council president Jean Ragalie-Carr says the program changes lives by teaching kids to be healthy, but it also encourages them to become more involved in school activities.

“What we’ve seen through this program the dairy farmers created is it changes lives but it also makes leaders out of the kids that interact with it,” she says. “So kids go into the school and they say ‘hey I want to make my school healthier.’”

Audio: Jean Ragalie-Carr, National Dairy Council president

Evans and other students in the program met with Secretary Sonny Perdue, former Indianapolis Colts player Marshall Faulk, and dairy industry leaders to discuss the importance of the program during an event on Tuesday.

Seventy percent of Indiana schools are enrolled in the program launched by the NFL and the National Dairy Council.

The Fuel Up to Play 60 program teaches youth that a diet of nutrient-rich foods combined with 60 minutes of daily exercise can lead to a healthy lifestyle.