Capstone Presentation

By: Annabel Merritt and Ainsley Merritt

 Our Issue: Obesity
● Obesity commonly is onset in children “between the ages of 5 and 6, or during
adolescence” (“Obesity in”).
● A child is considered obese if their “weight is at least 10 percent higher than what is
recommended for their height and body type” (“Obesity in”).
● If a child is obese by the ages 10 and 13, studies have shown that they have an “80
percent chance of becoming an obese adult” (“Obesity in”).
● An Austin Public Health 2014 study about Travis County school districts revealed that
“28.1 percent of students were considered overweight or obese as determined by their
age and body mass index” (Villalpando).

“Obesity in Children and Teens.” American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Apr. 2016,
https://www.aacap.org/aacap/families_and_youth/facts_for_families/fff-guide/obesity-in-children-and-teens-079.aspx.
Accessed 8 Sept. 2019.
Villalpando, Roberto. “Nearly 30% of Travis County Students Overweight, Study of School District Data Finds.” Statesman, Austin
American-Statesman, 22 Sept. 2018,
www.statesman.com/news/20171011/nearly-30-of-travis-county-students-overweight-study-of-school-district-data-finds.
Accessed 20 Oct. 2019.
 Our Issue: Obesity
● Some of the factors contributing to obesity are “food and activity, environment,
genetics, health conditions and medications, stress, emotional factors, and poor sleep”
(“What”).
● Obesity is also caused by weight gain from eating more calories than your body can
burn off.
● A lack of exercise and bad eating habits can accelerate this weight gain.
● An Austin Public Health 2014 study about Travis County school districts showed a
“correlation between the percentage of students who were overweight or obese, and the
percentage of students in the district with economic disadvantage” (Villalpando)

“What Causes Obesity & Overweight?” Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, 12 Jan. 2016,
https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/obesity/conditioninfo/cause. Accessed 8 Sept. 2019.
Villalpando, Roberto. “Nearly 30% of Travis County Students Overweight, Study of School District Data Finds.” Statesman, Austin
American-Statesman, 22 Sept. 2018,
www.statesman.com/news/20171011/nearly-30-of-travis-county-students-overweight-study-of-school-district-data-finds.
Accessed 20 Oct. 2019.
Research of Walnut Creek Elementary
● 30 teachers
● Title I school in Austin (the government provides low income students with funds to assist in their
education)
● Don’t have the nicest school and sports equipment
● Children are always coming and going, very transitional
● 77% Hispanic
● Through the teacher feedback from Mrs. Richardson we discovered that many teachers would like a
bin of their own class’ sports equipment to bring to recess so that supplies doesn’t get lost and they
don’t have to borrow it from Mr. Roeber
● Mr. Roeber is in need of sports pinnies and flag football belts
● The kids favorite game in P.E. class is called “Dragon Tail” and it requires flag football belts which
the school currently lacks
Our Issue: Obesity
How our research affected our project:

● After looking at all of the causes of obesity, we decided to target the lack of
exercise because we believe we will be able to have the biggest impact on
that factor of obesity
● Also, it will have an impact on current and future students at Walnut Creek
Elementary
● We decided on our project based on the needs of our stakeholders at Walnut
Creek Elementary
Our Plan
● Donate a bin of sports equipment to each of the thirty teachers in the school
for recess
● Have a tennis clinic for kids age 7-12 at Austin High School to make money to
fund this sports equipment (4 hour clinic and charge $30-$50 depending on if
we are able to do the clinic twice or not)
● Install a soccer goal that the school already has with Mr. Roeber
● Donate pinnies and flag football belts to Mr. Roeber’s P.E. class
Bin of Sports Equipment
● The bin itself ( $5 each; 32 for $160)

● 1 basketball ($6.18 each; 36 for $222.30)

● 2 kickballs ($4 each; 72 for $288)

● 1 soccer ball ($7.05 each for size 4 to $7.50 each for size 3; 23 size 3 and 12

size 4 balls for $257)

● 2 jump ropes ($1.69 each; 70 for $118.30)

Extras for P.E. Class
● Pinnies
○ Pack of 12 for $32
○ 36 pennies for $96
● Flag Football Belts
○ Pack of 12 for $24
○ 36 flag football belts for $72
 Total Estimated Cost Of All Sports
Equipment:

$1,213.60
● Looking to raise $1,500 to accomodate for any
potential price changes in the sports equipment
Timeline
● Possible Dates for our Tennis Camp:
-Saturday, November 23
-Sunday, November 24
-November 25th or 26th (the Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving
Break)
● Order the sports equipment by December 1st
● Deliver the sports equipment to Walnut Creek Elementary by December 14th
● Implement the soccer goal with Mr. Roeber whenever he is able to, any time
from November 1st to December 14th.
Audience
● Grades Kindergarten through Fifth Grade at Walnut Creek Elementary

Why we chose this audience?

● Over half of the kids at this school are on free and reduced lunch and the
school lacks a PTA to fund money for new sports equipment
● From our research we grasped that if children are active at a young age, they
are less likely to suffer from obesity later in life
● Will help these kids form a habit of being active
Resources
● For our tennis clinic to raise money at Austin High:
○ Use Austin High tennis equipment for free
○ Use Austin High tennis courts for free
○ Our teammates have offered to help us run it
● Installing the soccer goal
○ We are going to work with Mr. Roeber to set it up
○ Can use tools we have at our house
○ The school already has the soccer goal, we just need to install it
Our Communication
● Emailing Mr. Roeber and Mrs. Richardson to coordinate our project and the
installation of the soccer goal (effective because we have already been
keeping in touch with them through email)
● Have visited Walnut Creek Elementary
○ Got to talk to Mr. Roeber and Mrs. Richardson in person about sports equipment the school
needs
○ Interviewed the kids through a drawing/writing activity where we asked them questions about
what sports they like and what they like to do in P.E.
■ Most of the students speak Spanish so we just had them write in whichever language,
english or spanish, is more comfortable to them, and translated it afterwards
Our Communication for Our Tennis Clinic
● Use the parent emailing list that we use for our Austin High tennis kids clinic
fundraiser in the spring (will be effective because around 30 kids come to our
Austin High tennis fundraiser)
● Reach out to kids at local tennis centers such as Caswell and Westwood
through emailing their tennis coaches and sending them printable fliers to
give to the kids to take home to their parents
● Set up a payment online for the kid’s parents to register them or we will use
Venmo
● Talk to the Austin High tennis coach about when we could possibly do it
Why is this the best plan for this issue?
● We interviewed Mr. Roeber, the Physical Education teacher at Walnut Creek
Elementary, and Mrs. Richardson, a 2nd grade teacher, and they both agreed
that providing each teacher with their own recess equipment would be the
most beneficial way to increase physical activity at their school
● The pinnies and flag football belts we are donating directly to the P.E.
classroom will be used for a variety of games
● Installing the soccer goal will create a new activity to get the kids active
during recess and cater to the kids’ love for soccer
● The fact that the school is a Title 1 school puts the children at a larger risk of
developing obesity
Why is this the best plan for our group?
● We are connected to the issue through being athletes.
● We are capable of raising this much money and can do so using our abilities
in tennis.
● We often babysit and have worked as an assistant coach for a tennis camp
before so we have experience coaching and working with kids.
● We can play on the Austin High tennis courts for free, use the Austin High
equipment, and some of our teammates have already offered to help us out
as far as managing the children.
● We are also capable of helping Mr. Roeber install the soccer goal.
● It will have a lasting impact on Walnut Creek Elementary.
Thank you for listening to our presentation!