Advocate in Action-

Youth Advocate Exercises His Voice for Physical Education

On July 24th, the House of Representatives’ Education and Labor Committee held an important hearing to learn about the benefits of physical education for our nation’s children and the American Heart Association was proudly represented by Robert Keiser, an 18-year old advocate from Florida, and Dr. Russell Pate, Associate VP for Health Sciences and Professor at the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina (watch Dr. Pate’s testimony on YouTube).
“I am here today because I believe that, by sharing my own personal story, I may help you find ways to help other children overcome their struggles with obesity,” Robert said during his testimony before committee members.
Having overcome his own battle with obesity as a child, Robert has sought to help other kids succeed, leading members of the Legislative Advisory Teen Council he helped establish to Tallahassee to lobby the state’s legislators in support of a physical education bill (which passed unanimously in the Florida House and Senate and was signed into law in May 2007). And now, he has turned his attention and passion toward urging Congress to support the FIT Kids Act.