Some students at Waupaca Learning Center took Mr. Pig’s Healthy Food Choice Challenge this fall and won a classroom lunch party.
WLC’s Mighty Milers took the challenge by heading to Neumann’s Piggly Wiggly, where they created a seven-minute video with Mr. Pig about how to choose healthy options when grocery shopping.
The group of students runs together, and Scott and Lorrie Neumann, of Neumann’s Piggly Wiggly, delivered a classroom lunch party of sub sandwiches, string cheese, apples and water to them on Monday, Dec. 15.
This is the third year of the Mighty Milers program, and about 45 students participated this fall.
Mighty Milers is geared toward third and fourth graders but also welcomed middle school students and a few second graders, who wanted to participate.
WLC teachers Mary Feldt, Linda Fenton and Tom Reif lead the program.
They meet from 3-4 p.m. on Monday and Wednesday afternoons to do running drills, games and, of course, to run.
In March, they will start meeting again in preparation for Riverside Medical Center’s annual Fun Run.
Piggly Wiggly Midwest held Mr. Pig’s Healthy Food Choice Challenge contest for all schools throughout Wisconsin and northern Illinois.
Entrants were asked to get creative and show Mr. Pig how they make healthy food choices.
Submissions ranged from photos, videos and songs to drawings, posters, and poems.
Some entrants, such as WLC, visited local Piggly Wiggly stores to grocery shop for healthy food choices.
“Kudos to the Pig,” Feldt said of the local store.
After she heard about the contest, she contacted Scott Neumann and told him they wanted to film a video at his store.
He provided the Mr. Pig costume and did whatever he could to help, Feldt said.
“They are very community minded,” she said said.
Feldt sketched out a script, and they taped the students during Mighty Milers practices.
They met after school around the end of October to take the students running downtown and to Neumann’s Piggly Wiggly.
Deb Townsend, WLC’s gifted and talented teacher, helped by putting all the film clips into a movie and submitting it.
The students enjoyed being treated to lunch this week.
Fourth grader Sydney Ruffalo joined Mighty Milers two years ago.
“I thought it would be fun, because I enjoy running,” she said.
Fellow fourth-grade students Norah Van Gompel and Emmy Nickel joined the running club this school year.
“I like running, too. I thought it’d be fun to run with my friends and see what’s the most miles I can run,” said Van Gompel, who has logged about 28 miles thus far.
Nickel also enjoys running with her friends.
Fourth grader Alex Rhode said, “I’ve been in it two years. I just joined it because I thought it’d be fun.”
The grand prize in the Mr. Pig’s Healthy Food Choice Challenge contest was 10 iPads for each of the top five schools. The other prizes included mega school supply baskets, lunch parties and a year’s supply of pencils.
The contest ran from Sept. 15 through Nov. 7.
Visit www.shopthepig.com/mr-pig-challenge-winners/ for more information and to see the winning entries.