Jimmy Graham to Fifth Ward Junior High

Super Bowl 2013 has come to St. Tammany. Fifth Ward Junior High took center stage Jan. 29 when NFL Play 60 Super Bowl Challenge found its way to the tiny community of Bush in northeast St. Tammany Parish. 

New Orleans Saints players Jimmy Graham and Akiem Hicks, as well as current Team Ambassador and former Saints wide receiver Michael Lewis, visited Fifth Ward as part of the event. The school was selected as the grand prize winner in the Play 60 contest and was one of only a handful of area schools that had 100-percent participation in the program.

Play 60 was launched in 2007 and is designed to tackle childhood obesity by encouraging young people to enjoy at least 60 minute of daily physical activity.

Graham arrived at 9:30 a.m. and was greeted by a packed house of students, teachers, parents, school system administrators and more. The Saints standout tight end walked the halls of the school where he gave "High Fives" to each student, stopping briefly to sign a few autographs in the school’s office. Once inside the Fifth Ward gymnasium, Graham spoke to the crowd about fitness, health and nutrition and took time to answer a few of the students’ questions.

When Graham was told that the school won its first football game in 12 years this season, he pledged to buy cleats for the entire squad next season.

“What an amazing blessing that was,” said Fifth Ward Principal Christopher Oufnac.

The opportunity to have Graham speak to his students was equally special, Oufnac said.

"To hear his story, how our school and our community looked so familiar to him, that meant a lot to me and to the kids," Christopher Oufnac said.

Graham grew up in a rural area before finding his way to the University of Miami and, eventually, stardom in the Crescent City.

“When I found out he was coming, it brought goosebumps,” Oufnac said. “To hear his story, how our school and our community looked so familiar to him, that meant a lot to me and to the kids.”

Not even a hiccup in scheduling could affect the school’s excitement. Oufnac said Hicks and Lewis were delayed in reaching Fifth Ward when they accidently wound up at Fifth Ward Elementary in Reserve, La. The fact that the duo still made their way from the River Parishes to rural St. Tammany was not lost on Oufnac.

“How great is that?,” he said. “They wind up at the wrong school, but still came to Bush to see us. What is that, a two-hour drive? My hat’s off to the Saints, the NFL, and the players.”

Hicks and Lewis joined Graham in an interactive session of physical activities with the kids later in the morning. Students rotated through five different stations, where they enjoyed jumping rope, a football relay, a lightweight lifting station, a shuttle run, and a chance to play a Microsoft Xbox hurdling game.

“Watching (Hicks and Lewis) compete in that (Xbox) race, they both wanted to win,” Oufnac said. “They were like the kids. It was intense.”

The excitement doesn’t die down just yet for the Fifth Ward community. On Jan. 30, approximately 160 students will travel to the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans where they will participate in the NFL Play 60 Kids Experience. Fifth Ward also received $2,500 in athletic equipment and physical education gear by winning the Play 60 grand prize.

Parish students at Abita Springs Middle, Lancaster Elementary in Madisonville, Pine View Middle in Covington, and Brock Elementary, Mayfield Elementary and Carolyn Park Middle, all in or near Slidell, will also take part in the Play 60 Kids Experience in New Orleans.


(nola.com)