MSU Gets $3.6M To Boost School Girls' Activity
EAST LANSING (AP) - The National Institutes of Health is giving $3.6 million to Michigan State University to expand a nursing researcher's pilot program to help middle school girls increase their physical activity.
The program that has been in operation in Lansing now expands to Detroit, Flint, Jackson, Kalamazoo and Muskegon.
It's particularly aimed at girls from minority groups who live in urban, low-income areas.
The five-year program is called Girls on the Move, and is headed by Lorraine Robbins.
The university says the program "focuses on individual and Web-based counseling sessions with school nurses and an after-school physical activity club."
Robbins says fewer than 4 percent of middle school girls now meet physical activity recommendations. She says the activity drop from sixth to eighth grade contributes to weight gain.
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