Leanne Laing of Albany Creek is using the Self-Expression and Leadership Programme to take on obesity in her local schools. Her project was recently covered by the the North-West News, the leading newspaper for the suburbs northwest of Brisbane. The story is ran below:

THREE northwest schools are tackling the growing child obesity rate with a health-a-thon. For the first time Albany Creek’s All Saints Primary, Everton Hills’ Prince of Peace Lutheran and Hillbrook Anglican High School are taking part in a program called Building Champion Youth 2008. In 21 days, up to 1200 children will eat fruit and vegies, exercise daily and drink lots of water. Program co-ordinator Leanne Laing, of Albany Creek, said based on the theory it took 21 to 28 days to make or break a habit, she hoped her program would encourage children and families to be healthy. Ms Laing is doing a course through a positive educational organisation Landmark Education, which involves developing a community project.

“Each student has a pamphlet with a chart with the five food groups and they tick off each day what they’ve eaten and how much water they’ve had. There were no problems getting the primary school children involved, but high school kids are a different story.”

She said she hoped to have the program at schools across Australia.