Brownsville Middle Takes First Place at Hip Hop 4 Health Fair
By The Miami Herald
May 27–A team from Brownsville Middle School won first place in the third annual Hip Hop 4 Health Fair and Final Dance Competition held on May 17 at Jungle Island.
Palm Springs Middle School placed second and Westview Middle School was third in the event sponsored by AMERIGROUP Community Care, AstraZeneca, The Children’s Trust and The Carrie Meek Foundation.
Organizers said more than 2,500 people attended the show that featured dance teams from public middle schools competing for prizes that included bicycles, Nintendo Wii game systems and a trip to Walt Disney World.
Lorenzo “Ice Tea” Thomas of WEDR-FM 99 Jamz hosted the program, and the judging was done by a panel that included WPLG-Channel 10 anchor Calvin Hughes, Miami Heat dance choreographer Janine Thompson, Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte Stallworth, I Love New York actor Joshua “White Boy” Gallander and Oakland Raiders cornerback and former Miami Hurricane Duane Starks.
Retired Congresswoman Carrie P. Meek, head of The Carrie Meek Foundation, welcomed the crowd at the start of the program.
Amari Thomas, David Abreu and Luc Pollard of Brownsville Middle got the judges’ nod for the first place.
Second place went to a team of three hearing impaired students from Palm Springs, Ricola Reid, David King and Autumn Mitchell, who were greeted with fluttering hands — a traditional form of visual applause for the deaf.
Kenard Burton, Maurice Fletcher and Emmanuel Mazard of Westview Middle placed third.
In a statement, the organizers described Hip Hop 4 Health as a health-based initiative that incorporates a dance competition and health fair featuring information and resources from more than 35 community-based organizations.
The event provides free immunizations for adults and children by the Miami-Dade County Health Department and free glucose and blood pressure screenings courtesy of Jackson Health System’s Care-A-Van.
The event also encourages physical activity, cardiovascular health and healthy behavior by using a genre of music and dance popular with youth.
The preliminary rounds for the competition began this year in January, when the first three finishers were picked from each school.
The finalists formed three-person dance teams at their schools to enter the finals. Contestants came from these middle schools: Brownsville, Carol City, Centennial, Coral Way, Howard Doolin, Jose de Diego, Lawton Chiles, M.A. Milam, Madison, Miami Edison, Norland, Palm Springs, Parkway, Ponce de Leon, W.R. Thomas and Westview.
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