NEWS RELEASE: Manitoba students dance their way into winning national contest!

What do you get when over two hundred students, teachers, volunteers and community members get together for a massive dance-off? Just ask Lundar School in Lundar, Manitoba who did just that and won a national title in the MOGA Madness National School Challenge contest!

MOGA (the Most Outrageous Group Activity), an event hosted by the Canadian Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (CAHPERD), got thousands of students and teachers physically active by encouraging them to plan and participate in the zaniest physical activities imaginable!

Lundar School's Dance-Off won the prize as the Most Outrageous MOGA. Their event got participants dancing the Chicken Dance, the Macarena, Cotton Eye Joe and the Boot Scoot 'n Boogie song for 30 minutes right on the town's Main street. Students prepared for this event weeks in advance during school Physical Education classes and any other time they could find a time-slot in their daily agenda.

"The MOGA Dance-Off really inspired students to get physically active," said Helena Baert, Lundar's Physical Education Teacher. "Our school has many cultures that don't always get along. This event really helped to bring the students together on common ground."

A national selection committee were tasked with the job of weaving through the many MOGA context entries. MOGA events were graded against the following criteria: continuous physical activity for 30 minutes, percentage of student involvement, ability to inspire less active children and youth to be active, planning and organization, and originality.

"Lundar School's MOGA Dance Off event stood out from all of the entries," said Garth Wade, a member of CAHPERD's Intramural Recreation Committee who was involved in selecting the MOGA winner.

"It was obvious that the students and teachers put a lot of effort in planning this event. They rallied community members, and held the MOGA Dance-Off in the town's main street. They received media coverage, and a lot of the planning was done by students in the Physical Education leadership class," he added.

When asked how it feels to win the National Title of Canada's MOGA School and the $250 prize to purchase physical education resources, Helena Baert says:
"It's great for a small school to be recognized. It's not often that we hear of small schools doing so much. This is a great motivator for the kids."

CAHPERD's next national school challenge, SpecTAGular, will take place on May 25th and aims to get children youth shouting "TAG – You're IT!" from coast to coast to coast.


For more information:

Vicky Bisson
(613) 523-1348 ext. 228
vicky@cahperd.ca

Helena Baert
Physical Education Teacher
Lundar Sch