2013 Fuel Up to Play 60 Student Ambassador Summit

While we were away at ANC 2013 in Kansas City, Fuel Up to Play 60 was celebrating their Student Ambassadors and Program Advisors at the 2013 Fuel Up to Play 60 Ambassador Summit. Held in Charlotte, NC from July 11-15, the summit gathered sixty-seven Student Ambassadors and fifty Program Advisors from across the country to participate in fun team-building exercises, leadership activities, and brainstorming sessions on how to keep their schools active and healthy places to be.

Events kicked off at the Bank of America Stadium, which is the home of the Carolina Panthers. Attendees heard from dairy farmers via a keynote address by Eugene Blackwell, a dairy farmer from North Carolina who spoke to ambassadors and program advisors about the importance of the Fuel Up to Play 60 program; Blackwell asked students to continue their work promoting FUTP60. Attendees also heard from board member Zach Meyers, who encouraged kids to use passion to drive change through the FUTP60 program. The crowd then heard from Carolina Panthers’ President Danny Morrison, and Panthers tight end Ben Harstock.

In between workshops and physical activity sessions, ambassadors and program advisors brainstormed improvements to school breakfast menus, developed school action plans, and participated in the “Make Your Own Meme” Contest on the Fuel Up to Play 60 Facebook page. Connect with FUTP60 on Facebook, and on Twitter!

Other highlights from the conference include:

• The Youth Council and National Ambassadors supporting SUDIA staff in their hosting of a Training Camp, a local reward to schools achieving Touchdown School status. Despite thunderstorms and downpours, an enthusiastic group still managed to get in 60+ minutes of indoor combined activities.
• The 2013/14 FUTP 60 Playbook was introduced to Program Advisors, and the new Student Paths were enthusiastically endorsed by the Ambassadors. A youth roundtable, led by the Youth Council members, provided authentic input from youth on ‘Why Physical Activity is Important’ including a discussion of their views on how to overcome obstacles to inactivity.
• The Summit Day concluded with a preview of what will soon be happening nationwide with the “Make Your Move” campaign, as the student teams and advisor teams competed in a full-scale dance-off to some favorite songs; the evening peaked with a full-scale sing along to “Don’t Stop Believing.”
• Students sharing tips to getting breakfast started in their schools, and highlights of the upcoming “It Starts with Breakfast” spring campaign in 2014.
• Media training with Alexis Glick, CEO, GENYOUth; communication training sessions, including storytelling and presentation training with new youth partner Student Voice; food/nutrition insecurity problem solving.
• Ambassadors digging into the 2013-14 Playbook, and preparing elevator pitches to get peers motivated to participate. [One team’s pitch for the Grab-n Go-Breakfast Play was…’It’s an easy way for students to get breakfast, it’s healthy, it’s proven your test scores will be better!! Don’t you just want to eat and not be rushed?! Grab n’ Go breakfast is the way to go!!’]
• Guests from NFL teams: Dallas Cowboys, Tennessee Titans, Washington Redskins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, St. Louis Rams, and Carolina Panthers joined the group for a team-based problem solving discussion about food/nutrition insecurity issues.

To read more about the 2013 Fuel Up to Play 60 Student Ambassador Summit, read the Fuel Up to Play 60 blog and visit the Fuel Up to Play 60 Newsroom.