FROM STAFF REPORTS

MT LAUREL—Hilltop Montessori School has kicked off another health program with a grant from the Healthy Kids Initiative. Called “Hilltop Health Club,” the program allows students to celebrate being healthy in mind, body and spirit.

Twenty-seven kindergarten through eighth grade students attended the first Hilltop Health Club meeting held after school. Jennifer Dunbar was the guest speaker and led students through a yoga class.

After the yoga class, kids ate, discussed and learned about healthy snacks. All snacks were funded by the Action for Healthy Kids grant and the CRX Corporation.

“The students were amazed that a company truly cared about their health enough to purchase their food and provide funding for some of the guest speakers,” Hilltop Montessori Head of School Michele Wilensky wrote in a news release.

The Hilltop Health Club celebrated Halloween with a variety of healthy snacks and a costumed fun run.

Other guest speakers will lead classes in cross-fit for kids, hula hooping, dance and track.

Each Hilltop Health Club meeting will start with a physical activity not covered in the regular physical education class curriculum, and will end with a short lesson and a healthy snack.

Hilltop Montessori School’s Phase Three expansion will further the school’s healthy living initiatives. Currently under construction, the addition will include a community teaching kitchen, modeled after Alice Water’s Edible SchoolYard Project, and a gymnasium.