Subway's Jared Fogle presents award to Lake City school

LAKE CITY — Jared Fogle said his goal is simple: instill in students the importance of making positive decisions about their health now.

Fogle, the national spokesman for Subway restaurants, recognized grand-prize winners of the Subway Fresh Fit contest during an assembly at Main Street Elementary School Thursday.

The winners were fifth-grade students Ja’Kayla Andrews, Justice Smith and Zyria McClam.

The winning poster submission shows the students’ passion for choosing to lead a healthy and fit lifestyle at a young age, a Subway press release states. Each prize package includes a $1,000 fitness grant for the recipient’s school and $1,000 in Subway cash cards.

The other local grand-prize winner was Steven Causey, a seventh-grade student at Southside Middle School in Florence.

Fogle said that when he was a kid, he was at a normal weight and made good grades while being a student in school, but the fourth grade was when things started to change.

Watching too much television, playing video games, surfing the internet and eating lots of junk food is what unfortunately led Fogle to gain weight, he said.

As his weight increased, his self-confidence fell, he said.

Fogle, who once weighed 425 pounds, showed students a pair of 60-inch waist pants that he had worn.

“Enough is enough,” Fogle said of his previous weight. “I don’t want to live like this anymore.”

Fogle said he couldn’t fit in seats and was not able to go to the movie theater. He oftentimes would run out of breath while walking, he said. He unsuccessfully tried many diet plans to lose weight, he said.

While a student in college, began to eat Subway sandwiches and walk 30 minutes daily and, within about a year, lost about 200 pounds, he said.

“I want kids to learn from my mistakes,” Fogle said.

Students need to have balance in their life: exercising regularly, eating the right foods and getting plenty of rest, he said.

Fogle also told students to take it easy on the candy as Halloween approaches.

Fogle appeared in his first national television commercial for Subway restaurants in January 2000.

He maintains a weight of 190 pounds and has participated in many health forums, including the June 2003 Harvard University Obesity Health Forum, according to a Subway press release. He has also participated in the American Heart Association’s American Heart Walk throughout the country and visited schools, the press release states.

Main Street Elementary School Principal Angelia Scott said she is very excited that the school received the award and that it shows the community what the school is doing. Scott said the school has a wellness program that consists of physical fitness and eating healthy. Scott said it’s wonderful that students are putting good habits to into practice now.

In addition, Scott said the school’s physical education teacher, Alissa Cropper, has been teaching students good nutritional habits.

Florence School District 3 Superintendent Beth M. Wright said that if students start making healthy choices now, then that is more than half of the battle. Wright said the students are teaching adults to eat healthy. She said many school officials also are beginning to eat healthy now.

Wright also said the district a few years ago removed sodas from Lake City High School's vending machines and that students now have the option of drinking fruit juices.

Dianne Oliver, the district’s Senior Director of Academic Improvement, said many health problems are tied to obesity, explaining a person’s need to be conscious of the foods he or she eats.

Nearly 300 students in the Pee Dee and coastal areas submitted entries in the Subway Fresh Fit video and poster competition, a press release stated. The program was designed to help educate students, increase local awareness about the nation’s current childhood obesity problem and provide positive incentives for children to form healthier die and exercise habits, according to the press release