{"id":237836,"date":"2016-10-05T06:06:31","date_gmt":"2016-10-04T20:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=237836"},"modified":"2016-10-05T06:06:31","modified_gmt":"2016-10-04T20:06:31","slug":"lets-move-marianas-expo-caps-childhood-obesity-awareness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/lets-move-marianas-expo-caps-childhood-obesity-awareness\/","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s Move Marianas Expo caps Childhood Obesity Awareness"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-237836 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/lets-move-marianas-expo-caps-childhood-obesity-awareness\/1-30\/'>1<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-237837'>\n\t\t\t\tThe registration booth of the Let\u2019s Move Marianas Expo 2016, at the Oleai Sports Complex was full of registrants last Oct. 1. (Erwin Encinares)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/lets-move-marianas-expo-caps-childhood-obesity-awareness\/2-28\/'>2<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-237838'>\n\t\t\t\tStudent volunteers from Saipan Southern High School, Marianas High School, and Northern Marianas College pose for a picture during the Let\u2019s Move Marianas Expo 2016. (Erwin Encinares)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/lets-move-marianas-expo-caps-childhood-obesity-awareness\/3-25\/'>3<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-237839'>\n\t\t\t\tThe children are segregated by age with the help of volunteers. (Erwin Encinares)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/lets-move-marianas-expo-caps-childhood-obesity-awareness\/4-23\/'>4<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-237840'>\n\t\t\t\tThe children are segregated by age with the help of volunteers. (Erwin Encinares)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/lets-move-marianas-expo-caps-childhood-obesity-awareness\/5-26\/'>5<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-237841'>\n\t\t\t\tA participant dashes through the obstacle course during the Let\u2019s Move Marianas Expo 2016 at the Oleai Sports Complex. (Erwin Encinares)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>The Let\u2019s Move Marianas campaign literally kicked off last Saturday at the Oleai Sports Complex to finalize the CNMI\u2019s commemoration of Childhood Obesity Awareness Month.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s Move Marianas Campaign chair Amber Mendiola expressed her gratitude for those who made the expo such a success. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am very grateful that we have various agencies here. For physical activity, we have the Mariana Islands Basketball Federation, the Northern Mariana Islands Volleyball Association, Saipan Soccer School, and other various agencies to promote health and wellness,\u201d said Mendiola.<\/p>\n<p>During the expo children starting at the age of 4 were accompanied by their parents in various physical activities that included soccer, volleyball, basketball, and an obstacle course, which is then rewarded with a stamp for incentives. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey go around to all of the booths, do the activities\u2014parents must be involved with the events too, and then they get a passport stamped for prizes. We provide water and fruits throughout the time, and at the end of the event they claim a physical activity incentive,\u201d said Mendiola.<\/p>\n<p>She said there was a special feeling looking at how the parents interacted with their children through sports. \u201cWe\u2019ve usually given out hula hoops and stuff, and it\u2019s all to encourage not just the kids but also the parents to work with them. It\u2019s really fun to see the parents playing with the kids as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. CEO Esther Mu\u00f1a, who dropped by the event to support the staff, was impressed with the outcome. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m actually very pleased with the turnout. I came here to offer support to the staff, to let them know that this is something that I really support. This is something that even us at work are trying to do as well, trying to get some exercise,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Mu\u00f1a also relates to how this is a beneficial for the parent-child bonding. \u201cWe\u2019ve been doing this annually, and it\u2019s basically getting activities for the kids, the schoolchildren, and even the parents to get some exercise along the way. It\u2019s fun, and it\u2019s a good way to enjoy the Saturday,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is a great opportunity for everybody to just exercise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Let\u2019s Move Marianas Expo started back in 2010, and has been a hit since then. The goal of the expo is for kids and parents to be active for a day and spend some quality time with one another.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Let\u2019s Move Marianas campaign literally kicked off last Saturday at the Oleai Sports Complex&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":237837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7989,140,163,514],"class_list":["post-237836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-amber-mendiola","tag-commonwealth-healthcare-corp","tag-kids","tag-saipan-soccer-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}