The Washington Mystics Foundation is a national non-profit organization dedicated to improving and maintaining the total health and well-being of youth. The focus of the foundation is childhood obesity prevention.

The Mystics in Training (MIT) program is designed to get children in fourth and fifth grades moving. It is a year-long program that follows the children’s fitness progress. The program includes the Mystics Mile, where the children walk at least a mile with their teachers as well as follow lesson plans focused on nutritional choices. Each month a different “celebrity” walks with the students.

We believe in creating and supporting school environments in which children can practice healthy eating and physical activity behaviors. We achieve this through the MIT program. MIT members are children attending schools in Washington DC, Virginia, and Maryland. The results of this program will be used to guide implementation of a nationwide program designed to prevent childhood obesity throughout schools across the country.

Children participating in MIT practice healthy eating habits and participate in daily physical activity. How?