Macclesfield Primary School students, Jake, James, Nikita, Joshua, Georgia and Morgan are stepping out for a virtual trip to Beijing. 21326 Picture: Luke Plummer.By Tania Martin
HILLS students are holding their own very special flame for the Beijing Olympics.
As Olympic fever took hold for the opening ceremony last Friday 8 August, hills youngsters where taking part in their own way.
More than 450 students from primary schools across the hills have spent the past few weeks taking up a virtual walking challenge.
As part of an after-school program, students were given pedometers in a challenge to track their steps to Beijing.
Although it’s impossible for students to actually walk to Beijing, the youngsters took on this test of endurance in a virtual sense.
Students received a pedometer to wear during after school care and each step they took was calculated to make up the distance from the hills to Beijing.
Schools participating in this unusual challenge included Macclesfield, Monbulk, Menzies Creek, Mt Dandenong, Mt Evelyn, Birmingham and Montrose.
The walk was calculated on the number of steps taken rather than the actual distance from Melbourne to Beijing.
For schools, such as Macclesfield with a small group of 15 children, it only took 90,000 steps to reach the Olympic village compared to larger groups of up to 100 students which required more than 600,000 steps.
Kellie McPherson of the Australian Sports Commission said each step equated to 100 virtual meters.
School principal John Chiswell said the program was a great way to get the kids fit while gearing up for the Olympics.
“Our students are very excited about walking to Beijing!” he said.
“It’s wonderful that we can take a world event like the Olympics and use it to motivate kids to get active and encourage fair play and teamwork.”
Ms McPherson said more than 3000 schools across the country had embraced the project and were busy last week putting in their final steps in anticipation of reaching Beijing for the opening ceremony.
