By Emily Randall
Northeast News
Oct. 20, 2010

At Scuola Vita Nuova in Historic Northeast, children can take your typical arts classes — like music and visual art — or they can participate in a new class, called “fashion passion.”

In the fashion passion class, which began last school year, seventh- and eighth-graders learn about design and modeling, as well as the business side of creating a fashion show. Last year, the class put together a fashion show that raised hundreds of dollars to donate to victims of the Haiti earthquake.

This year, the class is taking their philanthropy to the next level with a year-long campaign against childhood obesity. Teacher Trey DeBose taught the children about the success of the pink ribbons for breast cancer and the Lance Armstrong Foundation LIVESTRONG campaigns, and the class came up with their own: “No Obese Child Left Behind.”

“I basically said, ‘Here’s an idea. Run with it,’” DeBose said. “I’m so proud of them.”

The class, which is highly organized almost like a club or a business with a president, creative director, treasurer, webmaster, secretary and jobs for all, developed the “No Obese Child Left Behind” concept and a logo to accompany it. They plan to market their campaign by printing their logo on T-shirts, pins, bracelets and flyers and distributing them.

“’No Obese Child Left Behind’ — that means more kids being active in this class, just in life,” eighth-grader Maria Gomez said. “Schools say they have a lot of obese kids in their schools. We want to help stop that — stop them from dying younger.”

The kids joined the class for varying reasons — from an interest in all things “fashionista” to an interest in organizing a fashion show.

The class is already getting organized for next spring’s fashion show, which will be in April on stage at KC Live in the Power and Light District. They are seeking partnerships with clothing companies to provide the fashions to be modeled, and, like last year’s show, they will prepare music and dance performances as a part of the show.

The kids are currently working on reaching out into their community to team up with individuals or groups interested in battling childhood obesity — such as a grocery store willing to donate produce instead of throwing it away.

To get involved with the class, contact DeBose at SVN at 231-5788.