Right now beautiful, light snow is falling outside the windows. What a great time to go out for a walk or go skiing! How about those snowshoes you got for Christmas? I know there are a lot of teachers who run after-school downhill and cross-country ski programs for students, and they are loving this weather as so many recent races have had to be cancelled.

The snowflakes arrived at the same time as an e-mail, announcing that five schools in New York were awarded new gym equipment packages for being the first to sign up and complete a fitness challenge! Awesome! Also in upstate New York, 15 more schools won a live dance party hosted by Radio Disney in the same competition.

It’s great to see students get involved in fitness challenges, and its nice to hear about schools getting something, instead of losing something, for a change.

The “Get Active, Get Fit” school challenge was hosted by Empire BlueCross. Winners were based on the highest percentage of participation in the program. More than 13,000 students in upstate New York exercised as part in the program, according to BlueCross.

Dance party winners hailed from public elementary schools in Hadley-Luzerne ,  numerous Albany city elementary schools,  Glens Falls,  Richmondville,  Cobleskill, Wappingers Falls, Port Jervis and Clifton Park.

Winners of the gym equipment are Port Jervis, South Glens Falls, Chestertown, Clifton Park and Saranac Lake.

Nationwide, nearly 500,000 students signed up for this year’s program, according to BlueCross. Now let’s get out there and walk!