Jungman Elementary School
Chicago, Illinois

Jungman Elementary School, in Chicago, Illinois, showed off its community strength at an Every Kid Healthy Day of Service event in September. This event brought together school staff, students, parents and volunteers from CSX Transportation and Action for Healthy Kids.

A recipient of a Game On grant from Action for Healthy Kids funded by CSX, Jungman was one of five schools chosen for a Day of Service event for their devotion to improving their health and fitness programs.

Taking place on an unseasonably hot Saturday in September 2017, volunteers battled the 95 degree heat to improve the school environment at Jungman by building raised bed gardens, constructing shelving units for PE equipment, creating a walking track, and painting hop scotch, four square games and a chess board on the blacktop.

Jungman’s PE teacher, Lori Klein-Blazek, noted that “for many students, the majority of the physical activity they receive is during the school day.” The day of service was an excellent way to excite the students, staff and community around fitness, health and wellness.

“It was an amazing experience to see so many students, parents, staff and community members come to help out,” said Klein-Blazek. “It was an extremely hot day, and everybody gave more than 100{f49ae73af5159ead47becd8f5ce8e5fb559299506316fc057ccc964bc975f557}. You could see that everyone took great pride in contributing to the success of this project.” Volunteers went the extra mile (pun intended), and a few extra hours, to ensure the walking track was completed.

Following the day of service, Klein-Blazek noted, “Students are more and more active at recess. It is a pleasure to see so many of them playing four square and using the life-sized chess board. They walk around on the track while talking to their friends instead of sitting down, which certainly warms my heart.”

The Day of Service at Jungman Elementary will surely benefit hundreds more students, staff and community members for years to come.