Prevention Matters

A Mississippi school’s establishment of a fitness room for teachers was named Partnership for Prevention's "Best Prevention Idea of the Week," while an animal rights group’s billboard that mocked fat people in an attempt to turn them against eating meat was named the “Worst Prevention Idea of the Week.”

The Best/Worst Idea awards are a regular feature of Prevention Matters, the blog of Partnership for Prevention. Each week, Partnership for Prevention's staff will choose the designees based on nominations of items in the previous week's news submitted by members, staff and the public at large. To submit a nomination or for more information, contact Damon Thompson at dthompson@prevent.org.



BEST

Middle School Teachers Working Up A Sweat
http://www.wapt.com/news/20603446/detail.html

Byram Middle School in Mississippi recently created its own fitness room for teachers to use while they're at school. The school now has two treadmills that allow teachers the opportunity to work out between classes. Teacher Lisa White said if the students see her putting in the time to work out, it will have a positive effect. “They mirror what they see and I can't sit there in the classroom and talk about health and not do anything about my own,” White said.


WORST

PETA Anti-Meat Billboards Derides Fat People
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/local/news-article.aspx?storyid=143891&catid=3

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) erected a billboard in town earlier this month that was designed to get people to stop eating meat. It depicted an overweight woman in a swimsuit, and had the words "Save the Whales." The organization replaced the billboards, after hearing objections from people who were offended by an approach they said made fun of the overweight.