It’s Your Move!, a student-generated health initiative to combat childhood obesity, held its kickoff event Wednesday at the YMCA in downtown Tuscaloosa. The event’s purpose was to encourage children to become more active between the hours of 3 and 5 p.m.

“What we all hope to accomplish from this event is to really empower the kids to make healthy choices for a healthy life,” said Leighton Brown, a Bateman Team member and senior public relations major.

Brown, Jessica Colburn, Carolyn Dawson and Jessica Wiger, the University of Alabama’s Department of Advertising and Public Relations’ Bateman Team, are the creators of the It’s Your Move! campaign.

The goal of the It’s Your Move! initiative is to increase awareness of the serious short- and long-term consequences of obesity, inform children of the steps they can take to adopt a healthier lifestyle and provide incentives to take action now.

Teri Henley, the Bateman Team’s faculty advisor, said the team’s research indicated children are less likely to incorporate big, global changes into their lifestyle or adopt vague messages such as “be healthy,” or “move more.” So, the team created a more digestible goal by designating the period between 3 and 5 p.m. as a time of day for children to play.

“Children have more autonomy in their choices after school than they do when they are in school or at home, when their parents are making choices for them,” Henley said. “We want to encourage [children] to make healthier choices after school.”

The event’s main activity was an educational obstacle course that asked questions that dealt with making healthy lifestyle choices. The children also had the opportunity to spend time with UA football players, local firemen and police officers.

The campaign’s kickoff event at the YMCA of Tuscaloosa involved children from the after school program at the Central and Benjamin Barnes branches of the YMCA and the Boys and Girls Club of West Alabama. The YMCA of Tuscaloosa’s CEO, Walt Larisey, said encouraging healthy lifestyles among children is important in the fight against obesity.

“The partnership between the Bateman Team and the YMCA is one that we hope to grow, and that we hope will nourish the lives of the children in Tuscaloosa,” Larisey said. “Youth obesity is a big problem, but if we can combat it when you’re young, when it’s easy to combat, and you’re not developed into a lifestyle where it’s a habit to be obese, then you’ll be healthier.”

The Bateman Competition is a national competition between participating universities across the nation. The client for the 2012 Bateman Competition is United Way Worldwide. Each year, the competition highlights a different topic, and this year’s issue is childhood obesity.

“We just want to encourage children to be healthy and active – especially between the hours of 3 and 5 p.m.,” Brown said.

For more information about the It’s Your Move! campaign, visit its website at move3to5.wordpress.com.