By Amanda Tsao
Staff Writer
Residents of the beach cities are always looking for new ways to have a healthier and more active community, and freshman Allison Roth founded the Blue Zone Club to create this environment.
Roth started the club to support the organization, Healthways, which created the Blue Zones’ organization. Healthways created the Blue Zones’ Project with the initiative to make the beach cities communities healthier and happier by motivating residents to live healthy lives.
“I encourage everyone to come and learn about how we can make our community healthier and happier, as this is something that will benefit everyone in the future,” co-vice president freshman Melody Roth said. “It doesn’t matter if you have no idea what to do. Our role here is to help you understand what you can do for yourself and your community.”
Healthways works in different locations throughout the globe. It is funded the development of Blue Zones all over the world, including locations such as California, Costa Rica and Japan. Recently, the Beach Cities Blue Zone won a contest of over 70 cities nationwide that granted funding for a Blue Zones Project, a three-year community improvement plan created by Healthways to further implement its ideals into the South Bay area.
“The Blue Zones Project’s goal is to enhance local restaurants, worksites, grocery stores and schools in the beach cities by providing a list of actions the venue can follow in order to be a Blue Zones-designated venue,” club Secretary sophomore Cindy Zhou said. “The Blue Zones Project will impact our community for the better.”
The Blue Zones Club featured its biggest event of the year, the BlueZaPalooza, sponsored by the Blue Zones Project on Oct. 12. The BlueZaPalooza was at the Hermosa Beach Community Center and included activities such as food tasting, games and lectures from different speakers who spoke about healthy lifestyles.
“This was a successful community-wide celebration of healthy living, and it offered great family-friendly activities, tastings from local restaurants and more,” Allison Roth said. “This event was our biggest of the year and was open to everyone.”
One of Blue Zones’ primary focuses is reducing national obesity levels. The Walking School Bus is a Blue Zones project that encourages elementary students to exercise.
“I think our club positively affects not only Mira Costa students but all the citizens in our community because it unites all of us with the common purpose of achieving a healthier lifestyle, that everyone wants to live,” Allison Roth said. “It helps our community members by setting a standard for them to follow to become healthier and happier members of society.”
The club is working to renovate streets to include biking lanes and greenery for walking dogs, in hopes of promoting easy access exercise routines. Also, the beach cities Blue Zones implemented new bans on smoking in certain areas with the hopes of reducing second hand smoke pollution in highly populated areas in the community. The Blue Zone club meets every other Wednesday in room four.
“We hope the club inspires many students as well as the community to realize their own potential, to be healthier and influence other people with the idea that the healthy choice does not take a lot out of you,” Zhou said.
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