First lady Michelle Obama honored almost 1,300 schools that are participating in the HealthierUS School Challenge Program at an Oct. 17 celebration at the White House.

The challenge schools voluntarily agreed to provide healthy meals based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, including a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole-grain foods, and fat-free or low-fat milk. They also have to ensure that kids take part in regular physical activity.

While no DeKalb County schools were among them, Georgia schools included Carrollton Elementary and Carrollton Junior High, which won gold awards, and six elementary schools in the Gordon County School District that were bronze award recipients.

The first lady said that more than a million young people have earned the President’s Active Lifestyle Award – the PALA awards – “and that means they’re exercising one hour a day, five days a week, for six consecutive weeks.”

The HealthierUS School Challenge Program is a key component of Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative to end childhood obesity within a generation.

Obama said teachers see firsthand the impact that obesity has on students’ lives – “not just on their physical and emotional health, but on their academic success as well.”

She called educators the “unsung heroes” in the fight to end the epidemic of childhood obesity.

For more information, visit http://teamnutrition.usda.gov/healthierUS/application.html.