(OCEAN TOWNSHIP) – New Jersey Department of Agriculture Secretary Douglas H. Fisher along with New York Jets linebacker Brandon Copeland and the New York Jets Flight Crew Cheerleaders Friday visited Ocean Township Intermediate School to honor the school as the 2018 “Grand Champion” for the New Jersey Department of Agriculture’s Jets PLAY 60 “Eat Right, Move More” program. 

The Jets PLAY 60 “Eat Right, Move More” program, a partnership between the Jets, the Department of Agriculture, and the American Dairy Association North East, encourages New Jersey school children to take advantage of healthy foods in their school cafeterias and become more active. 

“This partnership with the Jets has encouraged schools to do more to provide healthy food choices for students and allowed them the opportunity to get more exercise,” Secretary Fisher said.  “We applaud Ocean Township Intermediate School for going that extra mile to ensure that children have access to fresh fruits and vegetables and other nutritious foods.”

Copeland visited the school for a fun and educational program and presented the school with a $20,000 grant to improve school food service and physical education programs, made possible by the Jets and the American Dairy Association North East. 

“Fueling my body with healthy foods and being active is critical for my daily routine to be successful on and off the field,” said Copeland. “The Jets and the Department of Agriculture have a great program to encourage schools and students to start healthy habits early on.”

Schools were judged on their outstanding efforts to provide children with fresh produce, healthy foods, nutrition education and opportunities to increase physical activity. They also were required to have at least 100 students participate in the Jets Play 60 Program during which students must log one hour a day of activity for a week.

“Ocean Township Intermediate School is beyond excited and honored to be the Grand Prize recipient of this year’s ‘Eat Right, Move More’ grant,” said Jackie Wagner, the Sodexo Food Service Manager for Ocean Township Schools “The teachers and staff here have made it a priority to get our students moving more and eating right with the launch of many innovative activities to engage not only students, but their families as well.”

Ocean Township Intermediate School offers fresh fruits and vegetables with lunch as well as other times throughout the day as a healthy snack minimally three times a week. In addition, over 100 students participated in and completed the Jets Play 60 portion of the program.

The school plans on utilizing the award to update its service line with new equipment to store more Grab-n-Go fresh salads and fruit bowls and add to its vegetable bar.  For its physical education program, the school intends to use it to update equipment such as nets, balls, outdoor track and field needs and to have more items for outdoor athletic use. Additionally, the school is working on a new project involving physical education, food service and its science department to incorporate a school garden for those programs.

Two other “Division Champion” schools of the 2017-2018 New Jersey Department of Agriculture’s Jets PLAY 60 “Eat Right, Move More” program awarded $5,000 grants were Patrick M. Villano School in Emerson and Rahway High School. 

The New Jersey Department of Agriculture administers the National School Lunch and Breakfast programs, special milk and after-school snack, Summer Food Service Program and Child and Adult Care Food Program. Almost 700,000 children eat lunch at school every day in the Garden State.

About the New York Jets

As a professional football team that plays in New Jersey, the Jets take great pride in a long-standing, year-round commitment to our community. Programs funded by the New York Jets Foundation look to positively influence the lives of young men and women in the tri-state area by promoting fitness, supporting youth football and preventing bullying, particularly in disadvantaged communities.

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To learn more about the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NJDeptofAgriculture and www.facebook.com/JerseyFreshOfficial or Twitter @NJDA1 and @JerseyFreshNJDA.