Alex Cameron

Combating Obesity

After wrapping up TGPLAN write a piece on your overall experience. Persuade the reader to get involved with
your global issue, as well as reflecting on your personal impact on the subject and exposing facts and statistics on
the subject as well.

Imagine being told that your child or a loved one is too overweight to continue living
they way they are, and must lose weight in order to improve their health. The definition of
obesity for children ages 2-19 is when their body mass index is above the 95
th
percentile
for their age, sex, and height. Childhood obesity is a global killer and is nothing to joke
about. TGPLAN stands for Think Globally, Plan Locally, Act Neighborly, and that is exactly
the goal the sophomore class in the Academy for Global Studies at Austin High School had
when they were given the task to advocate for a global issue. My TGPLAN group consisted
of five high school athletes who strongly believe in living a healthy lifestyle, and working to
combat childhood obesity was a topic we felt we could make a difference in. As Austin
Independent School District Physical Education teacher Larry Chauvin said, The best thing
you can do is participate; they look up to you, which is exactly what my group felt would
be the best plan of action. Our slogan for the project became Get Outside and Kick Obesity
Aside, which perfectly described the actions we wanted to take to raise awareness of
childhood obesity. However, our first step was to conduct research on the global, national,
and local childhood obesity, and the statistics we found were shocking.
Globally, it is estimated that nearly 42 million children under the age of 5 are obese
or overweight (WHO). In particular, nearly 32 million of these children are in developing
countries, such as the United States and England. The country with the highest percentage
of overweight of overweight or obese children is the United States, with a 37% childhood
obesity rate (WHO). Some of the contributing factors are due to the evolution of the
American lifestyle over the past few years, which has come with many changes that
negatively impact the health of the younger generations. Some of these changes include a
rise in calorie intake, a high demand for cheap fast food meals, an increase in technology,
and a decrease in physical activity among youth. The increasing portion sizes and food
consumption have caused the average American calorie intake to increase more then 31%
of what it was 40 years ago (Learn). Televisions, cell phones, video games, and electric
scooters have replaced playing outside, biking, and being active with friends in the lives of
many children today. Now, 1 in 3 American children are overweight or obese, a statistic
that has nearly tripled since 1980 (Whelan).
These issues are not only seen globally and nationally, but are also prevalent in our
community. Though Austin is one of the top ten healthiest cities in America, our youth is
being impacted by the obesity epidemic that is sweeping the globe. For example, within the
Austin Independent School District nearly 16,000 children in grades 3-12 are overweight
or obese (Lunoff). This number may not be alarming at first, but there are only 86,000
children in all of the 124 A.I.S.D. schools and the obesity numbers are still rising. When we
spoke to Oak Hill Elementary School third grader Anthony about his opinions of playing
outside with his friends he told us, I would rather be playing video games then be outside
with my friends. This may not surprising for some, but I was personally shocked at his
answer because the kids that are most at risk for becoming obese or overweight are those
who do not eat right or get enough exercise. These children, like Anthony, who prefer video
games to physical activities, are the ones who need the most encouragement to get moving
and stay active. The consequences for children who do not maintain a healthy lifestyle are
very serious and some are even life threatening.
Childhood obesity contributes to many serious health, psychological, and emotional
issues in children, teens, and young adults, many of which can be prevented by maintaining
a healthy lifestyle. Some of the health problems include Type 2 diabetes, which is now
becoming prevalent among younger children, heart disease at a young age, high blood
pressure, liver disease, arthritis, asthma, and many more. Typically found in unhealthy
children and adults, heart disease is one of the worlds most serious and fatal diseases, and
is responsible for nearly 600,000 deaths per year. Equally important are the psychological
and emotional issues that obese or overweight kids are at high risk for, such as depression,
anxiety, lower self-esteem, body image issues, and more.
Though changes are being made to improve the nutritional value of cafeteria meals
and raise the standards for physical education classes, the most preventative ways to help
end the childhood obesity epidemic must be done outside of school. For our take action
component of the TGPLAN project, we decided to make an impact in our community by
leading by example and giving younger kids positive encouragement. We started by
creating pick up games of basketball, baseball, lacrosse, and any other sport or activity that
gets you moving. After realizing how much fun we were having in our neighborhoods, we
decided to take our encouragement further and volunteered at a larger Austin fitness
organization, the YMCA. While at the YMCA, we were able to interact with children who
want to get active and are interested in playing sports, such as volleyball. We decided to go
further and wanted to give our positive encouragements in the form of equipment
donations. We collected gently used sports equipment from our neighbors, friends, and
family and donated them to Oak Hill Elementary School, where the students will put the
equipment to good use during recess time. Our hopes are that the increase in sports
equipment will encourage more students to pick up a ball and stay active during their
recess time. We felt as if we made the strongest impact by encouraging kids through
leading by example and through donations to allow them to participate. I hope that the kids
remember playing with high school athletes and see older athletes as good examples that
encourage them to stay active and healthy.
Not only did we take action within our neighborhoods, but also each member of my
TGPLAN group made an individual advocacy project to raise awareness of the devastating
childhood obesity epidemic. For my project, I decided to create a website in order to spread
our message of kicking obesity aside. I chose a website because of the widespread use of
the Internet and felt as if that was the best way to convey the message and information
about the seriousness of global childhood obesity. I created a website that is easy to
navigate, appealing to the eye, well researched, and full of great programs that encourage
physical activity. During the presentation night my group was professional and everyone
contributed equally, but we could have used more practice and had better time
management. However, I feel that we were still able to make our message clear and
encourage everyone in the room to Get Outside and Kick Obesity Aside!
My impact on the topic of childhood obesity was not enough to end the epidemic,
but I felt as if I was able to impact and educate a variety of people on the subject. I felt as if I
was able to make an impact on my interviewee, P.E. teacher Larry Chauvin, by showing him
that lots of people, even a group of high school students, are interested in becoming aware
of the statistics of childhood obesity. I also made an impact on the children who received
our donated equipment because we were able to provide them with sports balls to get
moving and play more games at recess. I made the largest impact on the people watching
our presentation and viewing my website because they were able to both hear and see
different statistics and pictures explaining the severity of the childhood obesity epidemic. If
I were to do this project again, I would have taken more time in practicing our presentation
because we were all very nervous and talked a little too fast. In addition, I think I would
have benefitted from fully writing out my script instead of just creating an outline with my
different speaking topics.
Childhood obesity will not end overnight, but it only takes a spark to get a fire going.
By sparking our peers, families, and community members we will be able to make a
difference in health and lives of children. If there are enough sparks over the issue, we will
be able to burn out the childhood obesity epidemic and teach children how to live happier
and healthier lives. I hope that enough community members join us in advocating for
healthy active children and working to eliminate childhood obesity through changing the
way children view play and exercise. There are many local and national organizations
already committed to doing this, such as the NFLs Play 60 and Michelle Obamas Lets
Move! Campaign, and by joining those or starting your own you will be changing lives. As a
team, our hopes are that all of our community members will stand up for childhood obesity
and Get Outside and Kick Obesity Aside.

























Works Cited

"Learn The Facts." Let's Move! 2012. 4/14/13.
http://www.letsmove.gov/learn-facts/epidemic-childhood-obesity

Lunoff, Tracy D. "AISD's New Math: Better Fitness Better Nutrition = Better Students."ForeFront
Austin. Jan. 2011. 04/1/13.
http://www.forefrontaustin.com/feature/aisds-new-math-better-fitness-better-nutrition-better-
students

Whelan, Ellen-Marie. "Confronting America's Childhood Obesity Epidemic." Center for American
Progress, 10 May 2010. 4/9/13.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/healthcare/report/2010/05/10/7815/confronting-
americas-childhood-obesity-epidemic/

WHO. "Childhood Overweight and Obesity." World Health Organizations, 2013. 4/19/2013.
http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/childhood/en/