Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard
Link copied to clipboard

Fairhill pupils await Michelle Obama

The schoolyard at Fairhill Elementary School was abuzz. Today, a very important person with a fancy car, a lot of bodyguards, and the ear of the president will descend on the North Philadelphia school, and the students were ready.

At Fairhill Elementary in North Philadelphia, Maria Ellison walks after school with sons (from left) Kyree, 9; Marquis, 5; and Tyrese, 7. Ellison was surprised to hear Michelle Obama was coming to Fairhill. Kyree hopes to eat lunch with the first lady, and even had the perfect menu in mind.
At Fairhill Elementary in North Philadelphia, Maria Ellison walks after school with sons (from left) Kyree, 9; Marquis, 5; and Tyrese, 7. Ellison was surprised to hear Michelle Obama was coming to Fairhill. Kyree hopes to eat lunch with the first lady, and even had the perfect menu in mind.Read moreAPRIL SAUL / Staff Photographer

The schoolyard at Fairhill Elementary School was abuzz.

Today, a very important person with a fancy car, a lot of bodyguards, and the ear of the president will descend on the North Philadelphia school, and the students were ready.

Angelica Negron, 10, was "happy and excited" about Michelle Obama's visit to talk about healthy food. Angelica said she hoped she'd be picked to meet with the first lady.

"I think she's going to talk about vegetables, because a lot of kids, they eat a lot of junk food," Angelica, a fifth grader who wore a ball cap fashionably askew, said yesterday.

Does she eat junk?

"Sometimes I eat a little bit," she said shyly. "But my best food in the whole wide world is macaroni and cheese."

Would Mrs. Obama approve? Angelica smiled.

"Oh, yes," she said.

Outside, Miguel Figueroa juggled his daughter Delilah, 4, and a soft pretzel. He learned yesterday of Obama's visit.

"Good eating habits mean good health," said Figueroa, 40. "That's a good thing."

Superintendent Arlene Ackerman said the White House had chosen Fairhill, where nearly 90 percent of students receive free or reduced-price lunch, because of its successful focus on nutrition. The school has about 600 students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

Maria Caballero said Fairhill's efforts to teach students about nutrition had already changed the eating habits of her son, Brendon Ostiguin, 6.

"Now that he's here, he likes milk better. He didn't before," Caballero said. "And now he eats vegetables and carrots. He eats better than before."

Dessia Cruz, 32, said her 5-year-old daughter, Jada Paez, a prekindergartner who weights 85 pounds, was already on a special diet.

"It's because she had asthma and started taking steroids," Cruz said. "It's not because of how or what she eats."

Hearing her name, Jada perked up.

"I like carrots!" she said, peering out from her parka. "I wish they had salad for lunch."

Cruz said that while her daughter had not been picked to meet Obama, she hoped that what teachers learned at a presentation would percolate down to Jada.

"It's at this age they start getting stuck in their heads about what's good to eat," Cruz said.

After school let out, Maria Ellison walked her boys Kyree, Tyrese, and Marquis down Somerset Street.

Ellison was surprised to hear Obama was coming to Fairhill.

Kyree, 9, a third grader, hoped to ask the first lady about the White House. Then, he said, he wanted to eat lunch with her.

He even had his dream menu picked out.

"We should eat rice and beans, corn, some broccoli, and we could eat ribs," Kyree said. "I like ribs a lot."