Mountain Valley School awarded one of the healthiest in Colorado

Saguache—Mountain Valley School is proud to announce it is a 2017 Healthy School Champion and has won the $500 Excellence Award for the school’s health efforts.

As one of 46 schools named as a 2017 Healthy School Champion, the school’s work will be honored at the 2017 Colorado Healthy Schools Summit: Putting the Pieces Together, presented by The Colorado Education Initiative (CEI), Colorado Coalition for Healthy Schools, and the Colorado Healthy Schools Collective Impact, and sponsored by The Colorado Health Foundation on Friday, March 3, in Lakewood.

"We are so proud of our school and community for its commitment to making healthy choices and striving to educate others about health and wellness " said Principal, Kathy Hill. "The annual celebration recognizes schools that create and support a healthy school environment and also successfully implement effective school health efforts that support student learning.”

“At CEI, we have seen how impactful school health efforts can be on student success and this annual celebration allows us to recognize and celebrate schools that are succeeding at this important work," said CEI Director of School Health Amy Dyett. "These schools have successfully demonstrated the critical link between student health and academic achievement."

Schools are awarded based on their implementation of best practices in school health through an assessment tool called Smart Source, a narrative outlining their work, and letters of support. "For the winning schools, health and wellness is embedded into the culture and systems. It's about having an intentional investment to meet the needs of their students and staff in order to achieve academically," added Dyett.

The program has granted more than $300,000 in awards over the past seven years in the range of $300 to $7,500 per school.