Local Student Gets National Stage

We know some readers grow weary of the lawsuits and bankruptcies and other scandalous stuff routinely found in this section, so, for those folks, we offer this slice of sunshine.

Cal Davies, an eighth-grader at Central Junior High School in Springdale, has made quite an impression on the National Dairy Council. The organization’s Fuel Up To Play program promotes healthy eating among school kids.

Davies was a student at Hellstern Middle School – one of the program’s 40 pilot schools – last year when he was chosen as a school ambassador, and later was selected as one of 20 kids to attend a leadership summit in New York City. While there, Davies attended the NFL Draft and even interviewed top pick Matthew Stafford. He also was asked to serve as one of two national spokespersons for Fuel Up to Play.

As such, Davies attended media training and events in Chicago and Denver, and was scheduled to participate in a press conference with reps of the United States Department of Agriculture, the National Dairy Council and the NFL on Jan. 15. The event was designed to promote Fuel Up to Play 60, a tie-in program with the NFL that encourages exercise in addition to healthy eating.

About 60,000 schools now participate, and Davies has a gig as a guest blogger for www.nflrush.com. Surprisingly, Davies doesn’t consider any of the aforementioned as the “coolest” part of his experience.

“The coolest part was probably seeing how the program affected my life and my family’s life – just the choices we make – and how it’s affected other people’s lives, too,” Davies said, adding family dinners consist of more vegetables and less hot dogs.