Alliance for a Healthier Generation Awards Nolensville Elementary with 2017 Bronze Award

Published May 24, 2017

Nolensville Elementary is earning national recognition for its efforts to keep kids healthy.

In August of 2016, the Alliance for a Healthier Generation recognized NES as one of the Healthiest Schools in America.

Recently, the school added onto its award and received a 2017 Bronze Award from the same organization. Out of the 33,000 schools in the Alliance’s Healthy Schools Program, fewer than 400 received a gold, silver or bronze award.

“I am so excited about our school being the recipient of this award,” said NES P.E. coach Deborah Russell. “We are the first in the county to receive this award, so we are the trend-setters.”

The Alliance recognized NES and Russell’s work on making the school a healthier place, saying she had truly creative ways to emphasize the importance of nutrition and exercise.

“She has such a heart for wellness, whether it’s for staff, students, parents or her community,” said Nursing and Coordinated School Health Assistant Dana Sanderson. “She put a lot of hard work into her application for this award.”

This award, and the recognition in August, were just the starting points. Russell plans to continue making NES a healthier school.

“Having a healthy and physically active school requires a lot of planning and imagination,” Russell said. “Our hit this year at Nolensville Elementary was ‘Fresh Fruit Fridays.’ This will continue next school year, and we’ll add a veggie initiative into it.”

The focus on health is something both Russell and Sanderson hope to see spread throughout Williamson County Schools.

“We hope Deborah and Nolensville Elementary will be an inspiration to other schools in our district to apply for a National Healthy Schools Award,” Sanderson said. “It’s really a great way to show the community that our schools value health and wellness.”