The Family, Career and Community Leaders of America organization at Nansemond River High School is putting some pain into learning this semester.

The group received a $500 mini-grant from the Virginia FCCLA Foundation to establish a fitness boot camp led by FCCLA students at the high school, along with programs at the middle and elementary schools.

“Obesity among children and teens is high right now,” said Windi Turner, FCCLA sponsor. “We’ve been doing a fitness boot camp for the faculty, but it’s something we need to get the children involved with. When people are working out and taking care of themselves, they perform better on the job and in school.”

The idea for the program came from Turner, who has been teaching a staff boot camp twice a week with about 23 staff members in attendance.

It began as a fundraiser for FCCLA. Staff members with children paid the FCCLA students to babysit their children and help with their homework during the fitness classes.

“People started coming up to me after the program was done telling me how important the classes were to them,” Turner said. “They were losing inches and feeling better. I just got so much more positive feedback than I thought I would.”

To expand the program to include the students Turner applied for the grant.

One of the primary components of the grant is a “Student Body Faculty Challenge” for Nansemond River High School students and faculty, which will form teams to compete in various fitness challenges and nutrition knowledge bowls.

Students will also learn health and nutrition by teaching it to others in an elementary and middle school.

“Teaching helps students learn better, and it builds their self-esteem and leadership skills,” Turner said. “It’s about taking part of a higher level of learning and setting a good example for younger students.”

The high school students will lead two, four-week boot camps at a middle school, where students will conduct weight-ins, calculate body mass index and administer physical fitness tests on the first and last days of the after-school program.

The students in the boot camp will also submit weekly food logs to their high school student “buddies” for assessment and feedback.

The high school students also will prepare a healthy eating and positive lifestyle choices brochure to give to the middle school students.

At the conclusion of the program, a “Grand Finale Pep Rally” will be held for students, parents and other guests.

At the elementary school, the high school students will provide instruction on healthy eating and life choices by using activities such as making healthy foods like veggie pizza, frozen orange drinks and “my-pyramid-in-a-bag trail mix,” and playing games such as name-that-nutrition-label and eat-this-not-that.

“We want the kids to be able to go home and have Mom and Dad help them out making some of the things we put together in the lab,” Turner said. “We really emphasize family and community service. It’s about getting all levels of the community involved in being healthier.”