Play Hard, Live Clean Campaign Winners Recognized

By Diane Lee, Public Information Officer, Garrett County Health Department

Students from all Garrett County elementary and middle schools who earned a medal for their completion of Play Hard, Live Clean (PHLC) challenges were invited to get in free to the recent Northern vs. Southern High School boys’ basketball game. These students, who are pictured above, wore the medal they earned and joined in some halftime hoop shooting. 

“It was great to see all the kids proudly wearing their PHLC medals at the basketball game,” said Linda Costello, Prevention Specialist from the Garrett County Health Department. “They represent a commitment to making healthy choices!”

Play Hard, Live Clean is a campaign of the Garrett County Health Department and the Garrett County Public Schools and is designed to encourage youth to make good choices by recognizing and rewarding them for certain positive lifestyle accomplishments from kindergarten through graduation.

Currently, the campaign is underway at all the Garrett County elementary schools. For the month of March, students are challenged to get moving and complete a minimum of 10 physical activities. This follows a mindfulness challenge in January and a healthy drink challenge in February. For completing all three challenges, every student will earn a gold medal. During January, 53% of elementary students completed the challenge for the month.

“More than 90% of the students at Accident, Crellin, Friendsville, Route 40, and Swan Meadow elementary schools completed the first challenge,” reported Kendra McLaughlin from the health department. “We’re so appreciative of the long-term support of the school staff with this healthy lifestyle campaign. They bring it to life for us and for their students.”

The middle school PHLC campaign concluded in December with 92% of Northern Middle School students completing at least one of the three challenges, while at Southern Middle School it was 44%. Pictured below are 25 students from Northern Middle who completed more than 10 acts of kindness during December and earned a Play Hard, Live Clean T-shirt.

For more information about PHLC visit the PlayHardLiveClean.com website or call the health department at 301-334-7730 or 301-895-3111.