From left are Kelly Rumpf, health educator for the Dickinson-Iron District Health Department; Ashley Bortolini, health and physical education teacher at Forest Park Schools; and Bortolini’s daughter Ava. They are shown with some of the equipment acquired through the Project Healthy Schools program.

CRYSTAL FALLS — The Forest Park School District was part of a pilot grant program, partnering with the Dickinson-Iron District Health Department who received a grant from the University of Michigan.

The program is called Project Healthy Schools. Approximately, 12 Upper Peninsula schools participated in this two-year pilot project.

U.P. health departments worked with six schools in the first year and six in the second. Forest Park participated during the second year, joining Kingsford Middle School from the first year.

The goal of the project is to help reduce childhood obesity and its long-term risks.

One of the key components was to implement the PHS curriculum to all 6th grade students and to help schools set up a school wellness committee.