Media Coverage
Reports about local program successes
Through education, communications, grants and programming, Highmark Healthy High 5 is endeavoring to foster a generation of children and adolescents who lead longer, healthier lives.
The articles below are just a sampling of the media that have reported on Highmark Healthy High 5 programs and their successes.
Memorial Hospital to offer KidShape weight management program
Daily Record/Sunday News
July 23, 2010
To address the epidemic of childhood obesity and help children struggling with weight issues, Memorial Hospital (York) is partnering with Highmark Foundation's Highmark Healthy High 5 to offer KidShape, a nationally-recognized, family-based weight management program.
7th graders to get free YMCA passes
Pittsburgh Tribune-Reviw
July 22, 2010
YMCA officials want local tweens to trade video games for dodgeball — and they can do it for free. For the second year, YMCAs across the region are offering free memberships to seventh-graders for one year.
YMCA officials visited schools in the Avonworth area. One of the few schools officials visited was Avonworth Middle School, which received a grant from the state Department of Health for its physical fitness partnership with Highmark Healthy High 5. Avonworth spokesman Sidney Alvarez said the district may be open to a return visit.
Proven success: students who completed PA eMentoring Program enjoy better self-esteem
Pittsburgh Regional Impact Quarterly (Produced by the Allegheny Conference, Pittsburgh, PA)
Summer 2010
This year, as part of its relationship with Highmark Healthy High 5, an initiative of the Highmark Foundation, Pittsburgh Regional Compact Member Smart Futures participated in a data collection and analysis process to measure the affects of online career mentoring on the self -esteem of high school-aged youths. The results are positive and summarized in the complete article and report 
.
Highmark Caring Place celebrated one-year anniversary by recognizing its volunteers
Highmark Caring Place press release (Warrendale, Pa.)
July 6, 2010
The Highmark Caring Place recognized 111 volunteers from its Warrendale facility on Wednesday, July 7 at a reception at the Chadwick banquet hall in Wexford beginning at 7 p.m. These individuals have collectively volunteered more than 7,453 hours — an average of nearly 67 hours each during the past year.
Highmark Caring Place honors volunteers
Highmark
Caring Place press release (Erie, Pa.)
June 29, 2010
The Highmark Caring Place will recognize 141 volunteers this evening at a reception in their honor beginning at 7 p.m. at the Ambassador Banquet and Conference Center. These individuals have collectively volunteered more than 8,200 hours — an average of 58 hours each during the past year, and nearly double the hours volunteered last year — in support of grieving children, adolescents and their families at the Caring Place facility in Erie.
Highmark Caring Place honors volunteers
Highmark
Caring Place press release (Lemoyne, Pa.)
June 30, 2010
The Highmark Caring Place will recognize 171 Central Pa. volunteers this evening at a reception in their honor beginning at 7 p.m. at the Radisson Penn Harris Convention Center, Camp Hill. These individuals have collectively volunteered more than 6,981 hours — an average of nearly 41 hours each during the past year — in support of grieving children, adolescents and their families at the Caring Place facility in Lemoyne, Cumberland County.
Secretary of Health visits two 'Active Schools' in Allegheny County to recognize their commitment to daily physical activity
PR Newswire
May 28, 2010
Secretary of Health Everette James, joined by Highmark Foundation President Yvonne Cook, visited the Avonworth and Mt. Royal middle schools in Allegheny County today to commend students and teachers for their yearlong commitment to exercising for 30 minutes every school day.
Also, you can listen to Pennsyvania Secretary of Health Everette James talk about children's health in a radio spot that ran in Pennsylvania. Hear it now. 
Successful anti-bullying program hasn't been tried in the Poconos
Pocono Record Writer
May 23, 2010
In the fight against bullying and cyberbullying, scores of schools across Pennsylvania have seized on a highly regarded program — but it's been absent from the Poconos. The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program aims to reduce and prevent bullying problems in schools by changing the culture within them. The Highmark Foundation in Pittsburgh calls Olweus the "gold standard of bullying prevention."
Diocese of Altoona/Johnstown Schools collaborate to combat childhood obesity
WJAC-TV Channel 6
April 21, 2010
Teachers and students from Our Lady of Victory School and St. John the Evangelist School were featured on the WJAC-TV Channel 6 evening news for their SPARK training that took place this week. As an initiative of the Highmark Foundation, the Highmark Healthy High 5 School Challenge grant was recently awarded to these schools so they can implement SPARK. "This program is going to teach our students life-long lessons in staying fit for the rest of their lives," said Kathy Bechdel, Principal, Our Lady of Victory School.
Holy Family to introduce fitness program to parents
GoErie.com
May 20, 2010
Holy Family School invited school families to learn more about fitness during a free program at the school, 1153 E. Ninth St. The program launched an initiative to get children moving at least 60 minutes each day. The program showed parents ways that families can exercise together. The new fitness initiative is supported by an $8,000 Highmark Healthy High 5 grant that will pay for teacher training and buy physical education materials.
Childhood obesity: A generation at risk
The Patriot-News
The Patriot-News has a four-week series examining the issue of childhood obesity. It began April 18, 2010. It looks at the importance of nutrition and exercise, and what schools are doing — some with grants from the state Department of Health's Active Schools initiative or the Highmark Healthy High 5 School Challenge — to get kids moving during the academic day.
- Childhood obesity: A generation at risk (April 18, 2010)
- Childhood obesity: Healthy eating is key to combating weight (April 25, 2010)
- Combating childhood obesity: Schools offer kids exercise, education and health assessments (May 2, 2010)
- Childhood obesity: Motivation to exercise is hard to come by (May 9, 2010)
Seneca Valley (Evans City Middle School)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
April 8, 2010
Evans City Middle School has been awarded a Highmark Healthy High 5 School Challenge grant of $9,830 to implement Evans City Skate Pass and Cardio Kick Program to provide students with enhanced physical activity. Evans City Skate Pass will use skateboards in physical education classes. The goal is to increase activity among fifth- and sixth-graders. The cardio kick program will use large scooters and Airdyne exercise bikes to enhance the fitness portion of physical education class. The first year of the grant will focus on the fifth and sixth grades, introducing both programs to first through fourth grades the following year.
A strong message (West Mifflin Area Middle School)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
February 18, 2010
West Mifflin Area Middle School students will get a strong message Friday morning during an assembly when the school hosts Jon Pritikin, founder of "Feel the Power," a program that addresses bullying and peer pressure. This program enhances the middle school's Olweus Anti-Bullying initiative, implemented this year. This program is underwritten by the Highmark Foundation and is used in 138 schools in the state.
Pa. officials, ex-Steelers visit middle school for fitness rally
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
January 28, 2010
As an Active School, Avonworth won a $15,000 grant in the fall to improve the physical education program at the middle school, where 310 students attend grades six through eight. The grant was funded by the state and by the Highmark Foundation. Yvonne Cook of the Highmark Foundation and Mr. James also addressed the students at the rally. See an Avonworth School District slide show.
Paynter teachers volunteer for fundraiser based on 'Dancing with the Stars' to benefit Highmark Caring Place
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
January 22, 2010
Watching her favorite TV show will never be quite the same for Paynter Elementary School Principal Darlene DeFilippo. "I have a new appreciation for the preparation it takes for [the hit ABC series] 'Dancing with the Stars,' " she said. On Jan. 30, she and five Paynter teachers will be partnered with four dancers from Pittsburgh's swing dance community and a teacher from Whitehall Elementary School for "Dancing with the Teachers," and proceeds will benefit the Highmark Caring Place for grieving children and their families located in downtown Pittsburgh.
North School News: Eden Christian Academy
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
January 21, 2010
Eden Christian Academy, with campuses in Ross, Franklin Park and Pine, has received a Highmark Healthy High 5 School Challenge grant of $9,678 to implement the Kick Start My Heart Program to help students enhance their cardiovascular fitness.
Web-based tool tracks student statistics
Pennsylvania School Boards Association Bulletin
December 2009
Highmark Healthy High 5 Health eTools for Schools is a web-based tool that tracks student statistics.
Helping grieving kids
Carlisle Sentinel (Reprinted with permission.)
December 21, 2009
Hartmann and her two sons had gone to one-on-one sessions and even a suicide support group, but it didn’t seem to make a difference. It wasn’t until a year and a half after her husband’s death that Hartmann decided to contact the Highmark Caring Place.
KidShape program helps families learn to make healthy choices
The Patriot-News
January 17, 2010
The Bolgers found help from KidShape, a program at PinnacleHealth System in Harrisburg aimed at promoting healthy food choices and active lifestyles for children and their families. Part of Highmark’s Healthy High 5 initiative, KidShape uses interactive games, physical activities, cooking demonstrations and discussions about food choices and behaviors to help families uncover unhealthy food habits and adopt a healthier lifestyle. During the sessions, both children and parents exercise with a trainer. Separately, parents hear information from nutritionists and other health professionals while children learn about self-esteem and healthy living.
Obesity rates plateau in U.S.
Pittsburgh Post Gazette (Associated Press)
January 14, 2010
The nation's obesity rate appears to have stalled. But the latest numbers still show that more than two-thirds of adults and almost a third of children are overweight, with no sign of improvement.
Helping grieving kids: The Highmark Caring Place helps kids facing loss cope during the holidays
The Sentinel (Carlisle, PA)
December 21, 2009
One of the hardest things Amy Hartmann faced the first Christmas without her husband was having to send out the Christmas cards. “I had the hardest time signing those cards,” said the South Middleton Township resident. “In the end, I just didn’t send them out.”
Schools must take lead in promoting healthier diets
The Tribune-Democrat (Johnstown) editorial
December 18, 2009
According to the Centers for Disease Control, about 17 percent of 6- to 19-year-olds are obese, compared with about 6 percent in the late 1970s.
What if, instead of serving fast-food facsimiles, schools were required to serve and engage students in the creation of real meals? A number of schools, including those in California where the Legislature passed a healthy-lunch initiative in 2003, have already moved in this direction, planting gardens or switching to local purveyors of fresh produce.
We need to follow suit with a nationwide initiative. Instead of perpetuating the view of food as something that comes from the freezer aisle or a Sysco truck, these efforts launch kids on a path to becoming curious and thoughtful eaters — the first step to a smarter, healthier food culture.
Students take time to learn how to help those who grieve
Penn Trafford Star
December 3, 2009
Students at Trafford Middle School are trying to make the holidays a little better for families that are grieving the loss of a loved one. Children's Grief Awareness Day was last month, and students at the school wore blue shirts to support children who might be grieving and participated in activities and projects to learn more about grief. The projects will be sent to the Highmark Caring Place, a center for grieving children, adolescents and their families.
Seneca Valley takes stance against bullies
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
November 25, 2009
To combat bullying and address the new aspects brought about by technology, the Seneca Valley School District has instituted the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, underwritten by Highmark Healthy High 5. The program is being used in 138 schools in the state.