This fall, fifteen Mountain Heritage High School students participated in Cougar Fit Club, an afterschool health and fitness program hosted by Partners Aligned Toward Health (PATH). The group meets every Tuesday and Thursday after school to enjoy a free healthy snack, learn about healthy lifestyle choices, engage in a group workout or sport, and work toward individual fitness and wellness goals. Cougar Fit Club members also receive free access to the fitness center and free transportation to and from each session.
Cougar Fit Club strives to introduce participants to a wide variety of physical activities at different locations to demonstrate that there is more than one way to exercise and be healthy. The students have enjoyed group exercise classes, yoga, basketball, weight machines, walking, wallyball, traditional Appalachian clogging, and hiking. These activities take place throughout the county, including the Blue Ridge Fitness and Rehabilitation Center, Mountain Heritage High School, and the trail at High Pastures.
Mountain Heritage students participating in Cougar Fit Club had the opportunity to meet at the trailhead at High Pastures and go on a guided hike led by Tal Galton, owner of Snakeroot Ecotours based here in Yancey County. The students hiked around two miles that chilly, fall afternoon and learned about the area’s natural beauty including its vegetation, and – the highlight of the hike – the waterfall.
This “learning as we walk approach” allowed students to enjoy the feeling of limitless open space that can only be felt outdoors while learning about vegetation, leaves, and tree types under the guidance of Tal. At the end of the hike, Yancey County Transportation vans picked the students up as they do every Tuesday and Thursday and took each one home.
In addition to hiking, students have been guided at the Blue Ridge Fitness Center by Madison Casteel, the owner and director of Appalachian Performing Arts, a dance studio located in Burnsville. Madison taught students some basic clogging steps and then led them through some hoedown figures ending with the traditional “highway” where students danced in pairs. Madison is also part of the Mountain Dance Preservation Project, so she also took time to educate the students regarding the history of traditional dance and its intergenerational impact.
Partners Aligned Toward Health would like to thank our partner organizations that make this program possible for these teens in our community: Mountain Heritage High School, Blue Ridge Fitness and Rehabilitation Center, Yancey County Transportation Authority, and many other individuals who give their time and expertise to teach and spend time with these students.
To learn more about Cougar Fit Club, PATH’s other work, or get involved as a volunteer, contact PATH staff at (828)682-7899, info@pathwnc.org, or visit www.pathwnc.org.
