Latest News Local News Teen leads OKC Forum on Childhood Obesity
Teen leads OKC Forum on Childhood Obesity
Teen leads Oklahoma City forum on childhood obesity
Scotie Connor weighed more as a fifth-grader than he does now as a high school senior. He's heading up a youth forum, organized through the YMCA, to confront the challenge of youth obesity. The conference will be April 16.
Scotie Conner weighed more as a fifth-grader than he does now as a high school senior. Now he's self-confident, not self-conscious.
"Youth are just as able to make a difference in their own lives as much as adults are," said Conner, 17. "You can really make a difference in your own life, in other people's lives and in the community. And it all starts by you committing."
Conner is still committed to staying healthy, but he's committed to a new goal: helping other young people become healthy, too.
He is one of the organizers of a forum on childhood obesity Saturday at the Edward L. Gaylord Downtown YMCA to discuss childhood obesity and what changes can be made in the Oklahoma City community.
Scotie Conner works with free weights at the Edward L. Gaylord Downtown YMCA in Oklahoma City, Monday, April 11, 2011. Conner is heading up a youth forum on childhood obesity which will take place at the YMCA on April 16. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman ORG XMIT: KOD
Youth lead discussion
Six panelists ages 6 to 17 will lead the discussion, which will include about 100 youth from throughout the metro area.
The goal is to come up with a couple concrete ideas and see them through with a network of student advocates, said Conner, a senior at Casady School.
The forum is organized by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation's empowerMe Movement, the Oklahoma Fit Kids Coalition and the YMCA of Greater Oklahoma City.
Organizers hope the student-lead forum will connect with the young audience, said Angela Jones, director of health and wellness initiatives for the YMCA of Greater Oklahoma City.
"What we've found is that when adults are telling kids, 'You need to eat your fruits and vegetables,' it takes on maybe less of an impact," Jones said.
"If it's peer to peer ... it just had so much more of an impact."
So Conner and the other students will share their stories of becoming and staying healthy.
'Wrong path'
Conner said he changed his lifestyle after a visit to his pediatrician.
He was barely taller than 5 feet, but he weighed 155 pounds.
The doctor told him he was concerned, and after the appointment, Conner's parents talked to their son about the family history of diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
"I was actually one of those one out of three kids who was overweight or obese as a child," Conner said. "One day I just realized I was going down the wrong path."
Conner started working out every day. He ate more fruits and vegetables.
He swore off fast food and soda. He even became a vegetarian.
Now, he's 5-foot-10 and weighs only 140 pounds. He still works out every day, either swimming with his high school team or hopping on an elliptical machine.
"I'm a happier and healthier person," he said. "When you're not obese or overweight any more, you have so much energy."
Read more: http://newsok.com/teen-leads-oklahoma-city-forum-on-childhood-obesity/article/3558580#ixzz1Jba3rMc0
