Health Secretary RFK Jr. recognizes Gallup school for physical fitness, food programs

GALLUP — Three rows of students listened to the physical education instructor, then stretched to touch their toes. They followed that with quick jumps while staying in place.

The inclusion of physical fitness and how it is taught is the reason Hózhó Academy was recognized Wednesday by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

In remarks during the school assembly, the secretary highlighted the school’s nutritious meals and P.E. program, which follows President John F. Kennedy’s Council on Physical Fitness, a model launched during his administration to engage Americans to adopt a healthy lifestyle.

“I’m very, very impressed by the commitment of this school,” Kennedy said. “To make sure you all get good food that doesn’t have a lot of sugar in it. It doesn’t have a lot of dyes. It doesn’t have a lot of chemicals that are very, very bad for you.”

He told the students that unhealthy food hurts their ability to learn and to play.

“And one of the reasons for the success of this school is their commitment, their understanding that nutrition for children is critical for performance,” he said.

Kennedy’s visit to Gallup was the last stop on the “Make America Healthy Again” tour.

President Donald Trump established the Make America Healthy Again Commission through an executive order he signed on Feb. 13.

The aim is to redirect the national focus on the health of Americans and to address the growing health crisis. Through the executive order, Kennedy chairs the commission.

Hózhó Academy is a free public charter school close to downtown Gallup.

Principal Juliane Hillock said they adopted the fitness program after seeing how COVID-19 impacted students’ families.

COVID-19 can be extremely harmful to people with certain medical conditions such as diabetes, obesity, asthma or chronic lung disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The school’s lunch menu serves fresh foods and students learn about green foods while caring for a small garden on the school campus, she explained.

“We just feel that the more healthy, natural options we can give and teach our students to produce, the better off they’ll be in the long run,” Hillock said.

Kennedy spent the morning in Window Rock, Arizona, where he hiked and met with Navajo Nation leaders, including tribal President Buu Nygren and Crystalyne Curley, speaker of the tribal council.

He mentioned to Hózhó Academy students that he was 12 years old when he visited Window Rock in the 1960s and how that experience shaped his work advocating for tribal nations.