CANTON — The G. Cecil Pruett Community Center Family YMCA and the Cherokee County Rotary Club are working to help combat the youth obesity epidemic in cooperation with Hasty Elementary School.

The YMCA has chosen a reward-based program, the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award, to get Hasty Elementary fifth- and sixth-graders to be more healthy and ready for the YMCA Rotary Fall Classic 5K/10K and 1-mile Fun-Run on Oct. 15.

The Presidential Active Lifestyle Award is a fitness challenge that incorporates exercise and healthy eating goals in a six-to-eight-week program that leads individuals toward a healthier lifestyle.

“Each student and class is keeping track and they are in a competition to see which class has the most participation in the program,” said John Hicks, branch executive at the YMCA.

At the end of the program, the winning class will have a special field trip to the YMCA.

Hicks wanted to find a way to get more youth involved in the annual race event, so he approached Hasty Elementary Principal Izell McGruder in the spring and proposed the physical activity challenge.

“This is an opportunity to get kids excited and engaged,” Hicks said. “If kids exercise on a regular basis, they will feel better and perform better in school.”

To earn the award, the students must do 60 minutes of physical activity for five days a week for six weeks. The Fall Classic is at the end of the six weeks and all of the students are invited to come and participate at a reduced cost of $5, which includes a T-shirt, snacks, goody bag and a race medal. Applications for the race were sent home with all students on Monday.

The three classes that had the most students achieve the challenge for the first three weeks of competition won a bounce house party on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. at Hasty Elementary. The top classes were sixth-graders, including Julie Smith’s class.