Published: September 17, 2008
Transcript of Gov. Schwarzenegger Speaking at the Governor's Council
Transcript of Gov. Schwarzenegger Speaking at the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports Third Annual Spotlight Awards Ceremony
Time: 10:45 p.m.
Date: Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Event: Remarks, Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports Third Annual Spotlight Awards Ceremony, Auditorium, California Secretary of State Building
1500 11th Street, Sacramento, CA
KENNY ROGERS:
Hello, everybody. My name is Kenny Rogers and I'm the executive director of the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. Thank you for coming to our third annual Spotlight Award Ceremony, presented by the Anthem Blue Cross Foundation.
It's my pleasure to introduce the chairman of the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, the founder of major league lacrosse and the first-ever on-demand fitness television network exercise TV, Jake Steinfeld. Under Jake's leadership participation in our Governor's Fitness Challenge has grown from 10,000 students in 2006 to 158,000 students last year and nominations for our Spotlight Awards have increased from 120 to 597.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, please join me in welcoming the chair of the reigning Governor's Council of the Year, Jake Steinfeld. (Applause)
JAKE STEINFELD:
Thank you, Kenny. Thank you, everybody. Everyone feel good this morning?
From left to right: Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports Chairman Jake Steinfeld, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports Executive Director Kenny Rogers. Photo by Peter Grigsby, Office of the Governor.
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CROWD:
Yeah!
JAKE STEINFELD:
No, no, no. Are we feeling great this morning?
CROWD:
Yeah!
JAKE STEINFELD:
That's much better. First, I want to just say thank you to my council, who have done such a terrific job. Kenny Rogers -- big round of applause for Kenny, my executive director. (Applause) Edna and Carla have done such a great job. Peter Vidmar, my vice chair -- that's a gold medal winner right there, gang, '84 Olympic Games. (Applause) Lisa Fernandez, softball gold medal right there. Big round of applause for Lisa. (Applause)
This has been an exciting year for us. Three years now that we've been doing our Governor's Challenge. The first year that we started our Governor's Challenge we had 10,000 students take our challenge. Last year we had 70,000 students take our Governor's Challenge. And, of course, that's to be active 30 to 60 minutes every other day for a month and to get you feeling good about yourselves, because that's what we're talking about here. Not just building bodies, but building confidence and self-esteem. Well, this year we are very excited to report that we had over 158,000 students in California take our Governor's Challenge. How about that? (Applause)
And, interestingly enough, that equates to over 3 million active days, so you guys and everybody who is watching at home that participated in our Governor's Challenge, congratulations, we're all very proud of you. Now we couldn't do this -- yes, go ahead, give yourselves a big round of applause. (Applause)
It takes a lot of people that care for you guys in the audience and the kids across the state, because when we talk about economic challenges and we talk about the price of crude oil going out the roof, we also need to understand what our most precious asset is and that is our kids. And it is the most important thing for not only a strong family, but a strong county and a strong state and a strong country and that's what our Governor's Challenge and what we are doing here at the council is all about.
And I want to thank Secretary of Education Dave Long. Dave, if you can, just raise your hand for a second? A big round of applause for Dave. (Applause) Dave Long got on the phone along with me to call superintendents up and down the state to get them excited about our Governor's Challenge. And not only did he get on the phone, he traveled alongside of Kenny and I to visit schools, to meet with parents and teachers, to really talk about the power of physical education and how exercise and academics go hand-in-hand.
And this is going to take a little time, guys, because the first year we had a few partners and it was easy to read the names -- actually, I kind of memorized the names. But this year we have a number of sponsors and a number of great partners. And it's important that everybody here knows about them, because without the support of our sponsors and our partners -- we are a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization -- we would not be able to exist and we are existing and it's very exciting.
So, Anthem Blue Cross Foundation. We've got to give a big round of applause. (Applause) They sponsor our Spotlight Awards and they are providing the three brand-new fitness centers that we're going to be dedicating to a high school, middle and elementary school. And they also -- some great news -- they're on board for 2009. So thank you, Anthem Blue Cross Foundation. (Applause)
Kaiser Permanente is also on board; Applied Materials; the great folks at Longs and General Mills -- who my friend Rick Hosfeld, who I think had to leave a couple of minutes early -- but the gang at General Mills have been very supportive and they're on board for 2009. A big round of applause. (Applause)
We also have a number of partners: the California Teachers Association, the California Association of Health, Physical Education and Recreation and Dance. Keep on clapping, it's OK. (Applause) The Association for California School Counselors, charter schools, county superintendents, school business officials --- keep it going -- school boards, school administrators, county superintendents of education. And new this year, the California PTA. (Applause)
Our other partners are Paramount Farms -- Stewart Resnick and the gang in the Central Valley who are doing a great job -- iTECH Fitness, MNI, the Network for a Healthy California, Mammoth Mountain -- every middle school student that signs up to take our challenge gets a free lift ticket to go to Mammoth Mountain, thank you Rusty Gregory and everybody at Mammoth. (Applause) And our friends at 24-Hour Fitness. Every high school student that signs up to take our challenge gets a free 30-day membership at any 24-Hour Fitness club and that goes for teachers across this great state or ours. Sign up to take the challenge and you get a free 30-day membership. (Applause)
We're here today to honor seven individuals, schools, companies and nonprofit organizations and these are people who, every day, find it in their heart to just take a couple of extra steps further and that's what our Spotlights are really all about.
But I have to say that none of this would happen, all our great sponsors, Kenny and myself, without the great support of a very dear friend of mine. And I'll tell you a quick story, because he doesn't like when I tell long stories -- I was a fat kid with a bad stutter growing up and when I was 14 years old my dad bought me a set of weights and it changed my life. Not only did the weights build my body but it built my confidence and self esteem. And I always, always had this vision, or always wanted to meet, Arnold Schwarzenegger and I had his picture on my wall in high school and in college. And to be able to stand side-by-side with this terrific man is -- I can't tell you and honor doesn't speak the words.
But what's going on today in this state, we need -- you know, there are tough times and we need a tough guy to take care of, not the legislators, but the people. And that's what Governor Schwarzenegger does and that's what he thinks about every day -- the people. Not about making friends up on the hill here, but making sure that everybody in this great state is taken care of. And this is not about Republican, this is not about Democrat. This is about our kids and our families. So without further ado, I'd like to introduce Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger from the great state of California. (Applause)
GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER:
Well, thank you very much, Jake, for the wonderful introduction and for pumping me up here in front of all these kids, this is really great. And I want to say thank you to all of you for being here today. What an enthusiastic crowd that we have here, isn't it terrific? I love it. (Applause)
So let me just say a few words to pump up Jake, because he's absolutely right, we go back more than 30 years and we worked out together in the gym and we pumped up together. And it is such a great pleasure to have him carry on with the torch and carry on our whole movement, our fitness movement, because as you probably do not know -- but maybe you do know -- that I started with the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness in the '90s under Governor Wilson. And also the President's Council on Physical Fitness, I was the chairman and I was traveling all over the United States promoting fitness and health amongst the youngsters.
And I was so proud when we started the Governor's Council on Fitness here in California and we had all the youngsters jumping in and getting exercise, hiring more physical education teachers in the schools and all of those things. But then I became governor, so of course you can't do both. So I asked Jake.
I said, "Jake, this is a perfect role for you. You're such an enthusiastic guy and you're such a big believer in kids and in fitness and all those things." I said, "You have to take over, to be the chairman of the Governor's Council."
And he said, "With great pleasure." And so here we are and he has done an outstanding job, so let's give him a big, big, hand. (Applause)
And he is, of course, teaching my kids about Lacrosse and all kinds of other stuff, so he's a great coach all-around for all kinds of things, let me tell you.
And also I want to thank Kenny Rogers, our executive director, for doing such a great job, so let's give him also a big, big hand. (Applause) A big thank you also to Peter Vidmar, our vice-chair. Where's Peter? He's sitting right out there. Thank you very much for the great job that you are doing, a great friend. (Applause) Then Lisa Fernandez -- where is she? With all the gold medals, thank you very much. Our gold medalist. (Applause) Then Secretary David Long -- where's Secretary Long? Right over here -- our Education Secretary. (Applause) And I don't know if Secretary of Health and Human Services Kim Belshé is already here -- she's just walking in. Look at that, just when I mention her name. Let's give her a big hand. (Applause) Another big believer in health and fitness for the kids. And then, of course, we have our director, Sandra right over there, a big hand to her for being such a great director and a big believer in kids and health and fitness.
And, of course, I could not -- you know, there are a lot of sponsors that, of course, Jake went already through, so I will not go through this again. But there is one, which is the Anthem Blue Cross Foundation, that I want to mention, that is sponsoring this particular event here today and all the medal presentations and all this, so let's give them a big, big hand. (Applause)
Now, we want to thank, of course, also all the other sponsors, because we can have all the best ideas and be as motivated and all of this, but if we don't have the money then we don't have anything. So I think it's very important to have the money from the sponsors and to have sponsors come in. And I always say that the greatest partnership is when the public sector and the private sector and the nonprofit sector work together, that is the ultimate kind of partnership that we have and we have that partnership, thanks to Jake Seinfeld for having pulled everyone together here, so thank you very much. (Applause)
Now, I just want to tell you the reason why I have always been so interested in fitness is because I know what it did for me. You know, I grew up just like you did, but we had sports every day. We played soccer every day, we did our exercises and all this. And there was something very interesting in Austria where I came from, because we separated very clearly sports from fitness. Two different things. You see, we had competitive sports like playing soccer and track and field and the shot put and javelin and all those things. These were all for kids like me, the kids that were competitive. There were a certain amount of kids that were competitive and we have the same thing here in this country, where we have football players in high school and we have tennis players and people that do horse jumping and all those kinds of things. There are certain kids, a certain percentage of kids that are competitive and they want to participate in those things.
But there is a huge majority of kids that are not competitive, they don't want to go and play football, they don't want to play soccer, but they want to go and stay fit. They want to be healthy, they want to be full of energy. So what our whole fitness movement is about is not to go and concentrate so much on a competitive sport, because that's going well. I mean, every school is pushing competitive sports because it brings them extra money and they have fundraisers and all of those things. But what they don't always do is pay attention to the kids that maybe don't want to compete, but also want to be in shape and also want to be healthy. And that's what this is concentrating on, is making everyone participate.
And of course this, the Governor's Challenge, to have that many kids now participate -- and imagine, 158,000 kids in California have participated in the Governor's Challenge. I mean, this is extraordinary. (Applause) And to just show to you how special that is, the President's Challenge, which is all over the United States, does not have as many participants as the Governor's Challenge right here in California. Think about that. Give yourselves a big, big hand. (Applause)
And it is because of all of you. You're interested in that, you understand how important it is to eat well and to go and train every day, to exercise every day, because as Jake was saying, mind and body do belong together, sound mind, sound body. It helps you with your studies, it helps you with your sleep, it helps you with feeling more mobile and more active and more energetic and all of those things.
It is so important, because kids -- we have seen in the last 10 years that kids that don't exercise much, they get terrible health problems, health problems that later on will have a terrible effect on you. We don't want you to get sick; we want you to stay healthy and fit. You know, kids get diabetes, they get overweight. The average kid's body weight of a 10-year-old gained by 10 pounds in the last 20 years. That's terrible. This is why all of you are fighting back and saying we're going to get in shape, we're going to stay in shape.
And you know what the important thing is now? That you go and have a buddy. Imagine if each one of the 158,000 says my job is now to get a buddy to get involved, to exercise with me. Then we all of a sudden have double next year. That's what we want to shoot for. So let's get everyone enthusiastic, let's get everyone into this fitness movement. Exercise every day and I think this will be the healthiest state of all of the 50 states in the United States. Isn't that what we're shooting for? Exactly. (Applause)
I also want to point out that Secretary Kim Belshé and, of course, our Director Shewry have done such an outstanding job, because for the first time there is a Governor's Cup that is being awarded. And, of course, this was the first agency that jumped in, the Department of Health and Human Services, that jumped into this. And they're getting this cup today, right? Isn't it today? Exactly, today. So let's give them a big hand over there for their great participation. (Applause)
And like I said, I promise that there will be other departments and we have talked about it, other departments that will be involved in this coming year and will get into it and compete for that and hopefully they will also win some awards. So I think, because fitness is for young and old, it's for everybody and this is what's so good.
So now let's go and hand out some medals, because we have some great, great winners here that ought to get those medals, so let's do it. And before we do the medals, I have a special presentation. I have to tell you that I was sitting one day at the sports field when one of my sons was playing lacrosse and he was the coach and he was telling me about, "Look, we are now over 100,000." The next time I saw him sitting there again he said, "Now we have 110,000 kids participating."
I said, "Let me tell you something, Jake. This is simple math." I said, "If you get to 150,000 and over that, you will get a special gift," which is the official Terminator watch that I'm wearing right here. This is the official Terminator watch. So where is it? Please bring it over here.
Jake, you kept your promise and you beat the record of records. Here is a little gift of appreciation from me personally -- not from the state of California, because we don't have the money to pay for an Audemars Piguet watch -- but here as a personal gift from me to you and for me to just say thank you, thank you, thank you, for the great work that you have done. Thank you very much.
JAKE STEINFELD:
Thank you.
GOVERNOR:
No kissing. He wanted to kiss me, but I said no, not here. (Laughter)
JAKE STEINFELD:
But hugging is okay. Let's hear it for the great Governor of California. (Applause)
I'd like to bring up Peter Vidmar, my vice-chair and Lisa Fernandez to talk about our Spotlight Awards. They headed up our Spotlight committee and there were over 600 nominations this year, so it was tough going. Pete?
PETER VIDMAR:
It's about time, Jake. I've had my watch for about 10 years now. I'm just kidding. Anyways -- well, thank you. What a privilege it is for Lisa and I. We've had quite a bit of work these last few months, but we've got some great awards to give out. My fellow Californians on the Governor's Council of Physical Fitness and Sport have been fortunate to win many Olympic medals, Super Bowl and World Series rings, Grand Slam events, NCAA and World Championships. I think you can tell that I'm not the guy with the Super Bowl ring, but I got the Olympic medal.
However, we recognize that the real heroes in our field are those who are champions for kids. That's why we developed these awards to shine a spotlight on the people in our local communities who are helping California kids be active, fit and healthy. Lisa?
LISA FERNANDEZ:
The seven award categories are Principal of the Year, Teacher of the Year, Company of the Year, Organization of the Year, Event of the Year, Park Program of the Year and School of the Year. Our hope is that by honoring, rewarding and publicizing the stories of our award winners will inspire Californians throughout the state to take action and promote our kids health and wellbeing. (Applause)
JAKE STEINFELD:
Thank you, Lisa, Peter. Let's get on with the awards. Our first award is Principal of the Year. Our 2008 Principal of the Year comes from Chesterton Elementary in San Diego, where a significant number of mothers and fathers are separated from their children by military commitments in the Middle East. This principal's relentless efforts in support of high-quality physical education, fun physical activities and nutritious meals has helped develop healthy, active kids whose academic success would make any parent proud.
Our 2008 Principal of the Year, Jean Richmond. Let's hear it for Jean. (Applause) And accepting the award with Jean is Chesterton student Che Williams. Congratulations, Jean Richmond, our 2008 Principal of the Year. Let's hear it for her, gang. (Applause)
Oh, this is very exciting. (Applause) Great. Thank you, gang. Let's have a big round of applause again. Keep it going.
Our second award is for Teacher of the Year. Our award-winning teacher is from the tiny town of Leggett tucked away in California's north coast. An alum of Leggett Valley schools herself, this teacher has led camping, hiking and snowboarding trips to Death Valley, Yosemite and Lassen National Park and a research trip to Humboldt State University's Human Performance Lab. By thinking outside the box this teacher has provided her students with learning opportunities that are second to none. Our 2008 Teacher of the Year, Michelle Kelly. (Applause) Accepting with Michelle is her daughter and student, 17-year-old Shelby Kelly. (Applause)
Our Non-Profit Organization: Our award-winning Nonprofit Organization aims to reduce chronic-disease-related health disparities, including childhood obesity in Orange County. This organization is literally changing the landscape of these issues for tens of thousands of children by constructing a park and a community center in an area where children can have an opportunity to go out and just play. Our 2008 Organization of the Year, Latino Health Access. (Applause) Accepting the award for Latino Health Access is CEO and founder, America Bracho and student Jocelyn Oriano. (Applause)
Our Company of the Year: This is good, huh? This is great.
GOVERNOR:
I love it.
JAKE STEINFELD:
This is great. Our Company of the Year is a San Bernardino County small business with a big heart. This company ensures that kids in San Bernardino County can participate in a wide variety of youth sports, including a circus program where kids develop an amazing array of strength, coordination and focus. Our 2008 Company of the Year, Burgeson's Heating & Air Conditioning. (Applause) Accepting the award for Burgeson's Heating & Air is CFO Brian Burgeson and Andrew Tajeda. (Applause)
Now it's time for the Event of the Year. Our Event of the Year is named in honor of Tommy Smith, a track and field coach for 40 years, who is best-known for a single courageous gesture he made in the name of human rights while receiving his gold medal at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. Last year marked the 5th annual Tommy Smith Youth Track Meet, an event in which nearly 500 kids from low-income communities in Oakland and Richmond get free shoes and uniforms, get training from Olympic greats and get to compete in a world-class track stadium at a world-class university. Our 2008 Even of the Year, the Tommy Smith Youth Track Meet. Let's hear it for them, gang. (Applause) Accepting the award is Dr. Tommy Smith and Youth Track Meet participants Keon and Deon Varin. (Applause) All right, Tommy. Let's hear it for them, gang. (Applause)
Our Parks Program of the Year is from the city of La Mesa near San Diego. Last fall a group of teenagers began working with their local park to map out safe walking routes to schools. The teens made presentations on their findings to community groups and advocated for specific changes. As a result of their efforts, the city of La Mesa was recently awarded a $500,000 Safe Routes To School Grant to make streets and sidewalks more safe for everyone to walk on. This is one powerful group of teens. (Applause) Our 2008 Program of the Year, city of La Mesa's CX3. Accepting the award are teen participant Aaron Delaney and Director of Community Services Yvonne Garret. (Applause)
Well, now we have our grand prize. And what we do with that -- first of all, everybody who you saw up here gets a great gold medal from the Governor and Pete and Lisa. Not only that, but they will also get a check for $10,000 apiece so they can continue to provide health and physical education to all the kids that they do support. So let's have a big round of applause for Anthem Blue Cross Foundation, who support this great cause. (Applause)
Well now what we're going to do is once again introduce our Governor's challenge. Once again, what we want to talk about is being active, 30 to 60 minutes every day for a month. And in order to be able to be eligible to win the School of the Year, the school has to sign up all the kids in the school and every kid in the school has to participate and complete the Governor's Challenge, as well as implementing a great cardiovascular and health and nutrition program within the curriculum. So those are the prerequisites; pretty heavy at that.
Our High School of the Year is Apollo High, a continuation school in Simi Valley. Through the Governor's Challenge, a number of students who had struggled to find their place at traditional schools found outlets for their energy and pregnant and parenting moms found a means to promote their health and the health of their babies. And listen to this. In the same year, Apollo took on the Governor's Challenge for the first time, its students' academic performance jumped an astounding 13 percent, more than six times the state average. Accepting the award for Apollo are principal Dean May and Eric Nguyen. (Applause) Academics and fitness go hand in hand -- academics and fitness go hand in hand.
Our Middle School of the Year is Cecil Avenue Middle School from the low income, largely immigrant community of Delano, located in a part of the Central Valley that has poor air quality, little access to fitness facilities and one of the highest concentrations of fast-food restaurants in the state. This school's leaders have found creative methods to keep their students physically active and eating a healthy diet. Cecil Avenue students recorded an amazing 73,798 active days in the Governor's Challenge. Let's hear it for them. (Applause) And their academic scores rose higher than the state average as well. Accepting the award for Cecil Avenue are physical education department chair and former California Teacher of the Year, Ken Dyar and Ken's son, Cecil Avenue Middle School student Michael Dyar. All right. (Applause)
Oh, now it's time for the elementary school. I wonder who that school is? Governor, do you have any idea who the elementary --
GOVERNOR:
I have no idea.
JAKE STEINFELD:
No idea. Well, our Elementary School of the Year is from right here in Sacramento. How about a hand for the Hazel Strauch Falcons, our 2008 Elementary School of the Year. (Applause) Wow. Not only did they all get fit, but their academic test scores also went up big time this year. Now, Hazel Strauch's Friday Walking Club, its Healthy Garden and its Smoothie Bike, which enables students to burn calories while powering a blender, are just some of the ways this school has demonstrated a grand-prize-winning commitment to supporting physical activity and good nutrition. Accepting the award are Hazel Strauch principal Axel Hannemann and students Halie Lara and Edwin Padia. (Applause)
Let's have a big round of applause for all of our school winners. (Applause)
As the Governor is finishing here I just want to tell everybody and everybody at home that our Governor's Challenge, we kick off starting tomorrow morning and it will run through May. So this year we want not only 158,000 students, but we're going for over 300,000 students this year. I think we can do it. What do you think, gang? (Applause)
Because now we have students participating, parents and teachers are also invited to participate. Now, the Governor mentioned something about the Governor's Cup. Well, this June we'll be hosting the Governor's Challenge for all state employees and earlier this year we piloted a state employee challenge within the California Health and Human Services Agency, led by Secretary Kim Belshé. Kim, who does a great job -- just stand up for a second? A big round of applause for Secretary Kim Belshé. (Applause)
Actually, Kim, if you could come on up here for a second, because we have a special presentation. Sandra Shewry, who happens to be the director of the Department of Health Care Services, who is our winning department and they had over 1,500 employees take and complete the Governor's Challenge. So come right there -- hang on one second. Governor, you haven't seen this.
GOVERNOR:
No, I have not.
JAKE STEINFELD:
You haven't seen this. This is our Governor's Cup.
GOVERNOR:
Very nice.
JAKE STEINFELD:
Stand right there.
SECRETARY BELSHÉ:
It's for Sandra. Okay. (Applause)
JAKE STEINFELD:
Let's have a big round of applause for all of our winners. (Applause) And a big round of applause for the greatest governor of the state of California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Applause)
I'm just going to leave everybody with this note. Stick to the fight when you're hardest hit. It's when things seem worst that you must not quit. Don't quit on this great state, don't quit on your family, don't quit on you.
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