February 1998
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Project JUMP Boosts Youth Activity Dr. Avery D. Faigenbaum of the Department of Human Performance and Fitness doesn't bite his tongue when it comes to youth fitness. "Kids today are fatter than ever," he says bluntly. He's not being cruel. He's merely stating a truth he has learned as a pediatric exercise physiologist.
Unlike many critics, however, Faigenbaum is doing something to fight obesity. When community leader Jeremiah Toomey approached him about starting a program, Faigenbaum created and organized the Junior Urban Movement Program (Project JUMP) at the Murphy School Community Center in Dorchester.
The program officially began in January. It is free and offered on a first-come, first-served basis to Dorchester youths ages eight to 14. Class periods are sequential, each lasting 10 weeks and held in one-hour sessions twice each week.
"Unlike competitive sports programs, Project JUMP is a community-based intervention designed to improve children's attitudes toward physical activity and reduce the incidence of physical inactivity among urban youth living in our local community," Faigenbaum said. "There are no losers in Project JUMP. Kids learn news skills and make friends."
While Faigenbaum and his staff are thinking of building self-esteem and confidence and documenting their techniques and findings, the 40 students running around in the Murphy School Community Center's gymnasium are simply having fun.
"Our hypothesis is that a community-based and developmentally appropriate youth activity program which includes quality instruction, motor skill development, fitness education and team leadership activities, will enhance children's attitudes toward physical activity, develop a bona fide sense of self-esteem, confidence and self-fulfillment among participants, and improve selected measures of physical fitness," Faigenbaum said.
"Kids don't even realize it, but they're having fun, and too, they're getting fit," he said.
Exercise physiology majors, physical education majors and members of the UMass Boston Human Performance and Fitness Club work as project leaders (teaching classes) or researchers (collecting data). Like the children they are motivating, most of the project leaders live in Dorchester. The students' commitment to Project JUMP is evident, Faigenbaum said. Not only did they show up for Project JUMP during semester break in January, but they were also well prepared with lesson plans and noncompetitive activities. "The instruction from the UMass Boston students is phenomenal," Faigenbaum said.
He talks about evaluating the success of Project JUMP. "What I'm looking for is how many kids are moving during an activity," he said. When reflecting on a day's activities, Faigenbaum simply asks project leaders two questions: "Did you make the kids move?" and "Did you make them laugh?"
Project JUMP is funded by a Public Service Grant from UMass Boston and a grant from the Massachusetts Governor's Committee on Physical Fitness and Sports. The program requires little overhead. It utilizes the gymnasium and some equipment of the Murphy School Community Center. UMass Boston students volunteer and, starting this semester, some can earn academic credits for their work with the program.
"Our goal is to create a program of proven efficacy that is community-based and can be replicated at low cost by other community centers," Faigenbaum said. "Our long-term goal is to reduce the incidence of physical inactivity among children and adolescents living in an urban community."