After a successful Wellington Fitness & Wellness Education Day last year, the special day of promoting a healthier community while supporting teachers will take place again on Saturday, Aug. 20 from 9 a.m. to noon at Ultima Fitness & Wellness.
The event being held in cooperation with Stop Look & Learn, the Village of Wellington, Walgreens and Wellington The Magazine.
General Manager Jeffrey Keller, who joined the Ultima team in December, is excited about making the event bigger and better than last year for Wellington teachers and schools.
“We’re trying to grow it a little bit more so it’s more participation both on the teacher end, but also more participation from the area businesses and donations, so the community can get involved with helping Wellington-area teachers be successful with the students that they have,” Keller said.
Teacher registration will begin Saturday, Aug. 6, during Wellington’s back-to-school block party, where there will be a tent and additional information.
Although teachers are welcome the day of the event without registration, pre-registering will help organizers to anticipate the crowd and the teachers’ classroom needs.
“The more teachers involved, the better. The more teachers involved, the more kids it means we’re helping,” Keller said.
Seminars begin at 9 a.m., with a 30-minute lecture by Lynette Laufenberg where teachers can learn techniques to help students focus in the classroom through various exercises. The second lecture, about managing job stress, is by Dr. Matthew DiLallo and takes place at 11:15 a.m. and runs for a half-hour.
There will be a 50-minute Pilates class at 9 a.m. and a 50-minute Zumba class at 10 a.m. From 9 a.m. to noon, there will be flu shots and chair massages. All attendees will receive admission to Ultima for the day.
Before the event, there is an 8 a.m. cycling class, which Keller said attendees are welcome to participate in.
Teacher supply store Stop Look & Learn will also be on the premises to offer their expertise.
Last year, Ultima’s Javonti Greene said, somewhere between 14 and 19 teachers participated.
“There were less people, so they got a lot more supplies. We had a lot of supplies. We had a lot of donations,” Greene said.
Teachers from Binks Forest, Elbridge Gale, Equestrian Trails, New Horizons, Wellington Elementary and Panther Run elementary schools, and Emerald Cove and Wellington Landings middle schools, received supplies that were delivered to their classrooms in September.
Though the community is welcome to attend, the supply donations are for the school teachers at Wellington’s 11 public schools.
Some of the items were: supply boxes, crayons, safety scissors, water colors, markers, pencil cases, sticky notes, pencil erasers, rulers, glue, cardstock paper, journals, clipboards, spiral notebooks, folders, colored pencils, sharpeners, flash drives, glue sticks, dividers, dry erase markers, binders, highlighters, pens, pencils, loose-leaf paper, calculators, graph paper, sheet protectors, permanent markers and more.
Teachers were given the opportunity to request specific items, and asked for supplies such as paper towels, wipes, tissues, sanitizer, soap, copy paper, paper plates, tape, bandages, envelopes and more.
There were many monetary donations, Greene said, which helped them purchase specific items for the teachers.
Members of the community are welcome to attend the event. A donation garners admission and the ability to use Ultima for the day.
This year, for added convenience, a GoFundMe account was created, which is available at www.gofundme.com/2cgmfhg. Every donation, no matter the size, helps, Keller said.
Ultima’s Judy Duany is excited to be helping Wellington teachers and students. “We’re known for giving back to the community, so this is just another way for us to help the community,” she said.
Everyone at Ultima is looking forward to Aug. 20, and meeting and mingling with Wellington teachers during this special event.
“Ultima is a longstanding family-owned business,” Keller said. “As a family business, we really care about the children and teachers in the community and the success that they have in school. Giving back to them is our way of contributing to that success.”
Ultima is located at 12799 W. Forest Hill Blvd. in the Wellington Plaza. For more information, call Ultima at (561) 795-2823 to speak with Keller, or contact the Village of Wellington at (561) 791-4000 or www.wellingtonfl.gov.
ABOVE: Denzil Soleyn gets a flu shot from pharmacist Krista Strathie at last year’s Wellington Fitness & Wellness Education Day.
