POYi 63 Winners List | Winners Gallery | Judges History | Archive | Endowment | Sponsors | Contact   
Winners Gallery | Newspaper Feature Picture Story | Third Place
Third Place
Liz O. Baylen The Washington Times
"LOST AT CAMP"


1 of 11

"MEASURING IN" After a long bus ride alone with fellow campers, Margarita Fanelli, 7, of Philadelphia, PA, is corralled into a barn where she and the rest of the campers are measured in on their first day of weight-loss camp at Camp Shane.

Summary: Emily Stanfield, 13, lost about 30 pounds last year attending a summer weight-loss camp for kids in upstate New York. 'But I gained it all back,' says Emily, who's returning for a third time this summer. 'I get back home, and I get back into my old habits.' Weight-loss camps are growing in popularity, according to the American Camp Association. This growing popularity has been met with a 50 percent increase in the number of weight-loss camps established just since last year. Experts estimate that 15% of kids are overweight and another 15% are at risk of being overweight. Furthermore, it is estimated that two thirds of these overweight kids will become overweight adults. The key to Camp Shane weight-loss camp is strict portion control. Children, although admittedly hungry for the first couple of days, learn to thrive on 1,600 calories a day, including 200 calories' worth of snacks on top of a day packed with physical activity. 'I know that some children have kept the weight off and others haven't,' says Camp Shane owner David Ettenberg, 'but weight loss is just part of it. The camp is about so much more. It's about feeling accepted, about having fun, about making friends,' he continued. Despite the growing popularity of the camps, the program itself and the success rate is highly debated. However, the children keep coming back for more.

 

 

POYi 63 Winners List | Winners Gallery | Judges

Home | History | Archive | Endowment | Sponsors | News | Contact