By Linda White
If you did not know better, you might have thought you were at the Boston Garden with the Bruins and not in the Davis School Gymnasium for a school assembly on the morning of Friday, April 7.
Davis School students, teachers, and staff members were stylishly decked out in Bruins fan gear, and the excitement level matched the familiar beat of the Bruins goal horn and music. Loud cheering from the bleachers welcomed the Boston Bruins BFIT Team led by Bedford resident, John Whitesides IV, the former Bruins Strength and Conditioning Coach of 15 years. Whitesides, the father of twin first graders, Jane and John V, was recently appointed as the director of a new Bruins health and wellness educational program for schools, known as BFIT.
Whitesides and BFIT Team members Alex Corcoran, Kayla Dobrinski, Ashley Waterman, and the very popular Bruins mascot, Blades, shared insight covering a range of topics that included staying physically fit, mentally strong, maintaining a healthy diet with proper nutrition, staying focused and working hard to achieve personal and academic goals, and the importance of always doing the right thing.
The BFIT team took students and teachers through a series of strengthening exercises followed by a shoot-out. Blades was in goal and faced off against students, teachers, and the popular Davis mascot, Froggy. Katrina, a first-grade student in Anita Petrocelli’s class, shared a bit of trivia for this article regarding the meaning of the word bruin. She explained, “A bruin is a bear and that’s why their mascot, Blades, is a bear.”
Davis Principal Beth Benoit commented, “I would like to recognize and thank our Davis physical education teachers, Dean Ientile and Ken Yanofsky, who organized and coordinated this special assembly with John Whitesides and the Bruins BFIT Team.”
The Boston Bruins School Assembly Program is a free program for elementary schools focused on promoting a healthy lifestyle by emphasizing the importance of proper nutrition and physical activity through movement and involvement with sports such as hockey.
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