MORGANTOWN – There’s nothing like a multiple-choice test.
Which is why you’ll want to lace up your running shoes.
Or, you’re walking shoes, depending upon your recreation of choice.
Make sure your bicycle is trail-worthy, too, while you’re at it.
Nope, the district says – there will be no wrong answers next month on the Deckers Creek rail-trail behind the central offices of Monongalia County Schools in Sabraton.
That’s because the district’s annual Wellness Walk/Run/Bike event is coming back around.
Students and their families across the district are invited to come out for the 2026 edition of the gathering, which begins at 9:30 a.m. April 25 at the above location – rain or shine.
Mon’s district is known for fostering healthy lifestyles in its schools, especially for its students in the elementary grades.
Brookhaven Elementary has scored points for its walking, yoga and soccer clubs, and Zumba Day and Family Fitness Night gatherings, among other activities.
North Elementary is renowned for its interlocking vegetable gardens, where what gets grown more often than not ends up in a salad on the lunch menu.
It also raised the interest of then-First Lady Michelle Obama, who invited a group of students from North to the White House, where they chopped vegetables and made healthy lunches and snacks in the Rose Garden.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey, meanwhile, signed the Make West Virginia Healthy Act into law earlier this month.
The policy that began its life as House Bill 4982 cleared both the House and Senate during the most recent legislative session and is designed to foster healthier food choices in a state not necessarily known for them.
It plans to address the predominance of “food deserts” in West Virginia – those areas where nutritional fare just isn’t available – while calling for the establishment of an Office of Healthy Lifestyles.
West Virginia consistently leads the nation in rates of obesity, heart disease and hypertension, and those food deserts are a big reason why, nutrition watchers say.
Teachers will be no longer be allowed to withhold recess as a punishment under the act, which goes into effect in May.
