Twelve weeks. That’s how long Katherine Thomas, associate professor in health and human performance, hopes it will take to get children in Ames thinking about living a healthy life.

Beginning Saturday, children between the ages of 10 and 18 will begin participating in “Fit Kids,” a program spearheaded by Thomas and three other volunteers from the Department of Health and Human Performance.

The cost of the program is $48, and children who sign up for the program will meet three times a week in the Forker Building to participate in various activities that educate and encourage them to increase daily activity.

Thomas said Iowa ranks 13th in obese children, and this problem carries over into adulthood.

“Our concern is that there hasn’t seemed to be, in this community, a program that would help children and their parents who are facing this challenge,” Thomas said. “So we decided to do something about it.”

Susan Coates, graduate student in health and human performance, is one of the students who decided to volunteer her time to the program. She was a public school teacher in Lawrence, Mass., before beginning her doctorate in Fall 2002.

“There were significant fitness issues in those schools,” Coates said. “A lot of these kids were of low socioeconomic status, so they didn’t have access to a lot of equipment and facilities.”

The Henry K. Oliver school where she taught is in an urban area, and she said this made it difficult for children to be fit.

“A lot of these kids didn’t have places where they could play outside,” Coates said. “It wasn’t necessarily a safe thing for them do. It was an urban area so a lot of them didn’t have back yards.”

To make sure children with low socioeconomic status in Ames don’t miss out on the program, “Fit Kids” will be offering scholarships to children and their families who can’t afford it. The program will also return $2 every week to children who attend all the meetings.

The activities will take place Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Saturdays will be focused on educating the kids and their parents on dealing with fitness issues. The curriculum is modeled after a book titled “Trim Kids,” developed by Louisiana State University researchers.

Both Coates and Thomas said the focus of the program will be on the process and not the results.

“I was really active in sports when I was 5 years old and up,” Coates said. “I was never the most skilled kid on my team, but I worked really hard and I enjoyed what I was doing. You don’t have to be an all-star in any sport. Just being out there and being active is where the benefit lies.”

Thomas cautioned about too much weight loss, however.

“We certainly want to be careful; it’s just as unhealthy to be underweight as it is to be overweight,” Thomas said. “We know, for example, that you have less health risks if you are overweight but fit. That’s healthier than being normal weight and sedentary.”

Parents who want to register their children can call Susan Coates at (515) 294-8986. Others involved in the program are Tiffany Myers, graduate student in health and human performance, and Jennifer Smith, senior in health and human performance.