According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the percentage of children in the country considered obese has more than tripled since the 1970s to one in every five today. When you consider the amount of processed and fast food kids are eating, combined with their lack of exercise, it’s easy to see the root of the problem. Many parents are turning to summer cooking camps to help give their kids a boost in learning about nutrition and how to cook healthy foods. One local doctor, Dr. Yum, is on a mission to help transform kids and their diets, one summer cooking camp at a time.

The BASIS Independent McLean MATHCOUNTS team placed first in the MATHCOUNTS state championships in Richmond, Va.; its first time participating in the annual statewide MATHCOUNTS competition. BASIS Independent McLean MATHCOUNTS members include: Austin Feng (8th grade), Joshua Fu (8th grade), Pravalika Putalapattu, (7th grade) and Ethan Zhou (6th grade), and are led by Coaches Tyler Sullivan and Rikki McCullough, s BASIS Independent McLean math teacher. MATHCOUNTS state champions head to the 2017 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition in Orlando, Florida in May. For more information on BASIS Independent McLean, go to http://mclean.basisindependent.com.

March is National Nutrition Month, which is a time to shed some light on our food choices and how we can develop some sound eating and physical activity habits. The health professionals seem to agree that American families desperately need both of them. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that nearly 21% of adolescents are considered obese, and over 17% of kids ages 6-11 are. This is a number that has continued to rise, despite the health problems that obesity can lead to.