CHOICES, or Children's Habits Of Inactivity Create Excessive Suffering, is for youths in kindergarten through fourth grade.

"It's called CHOICES because everyone has to make choices about how we treat ourselves," said Sandra Ihlenfeld, physical director at the Butler Y.

Termed a "childhood obesity program," participants must register at or above the 85th percentile in the body mass index, although no proof is necessary for admittance.

Entrants into the 12-week program will attend twice-weekly classes that focus on physical fitness, nutrition including a snack, and self-esteem.

"Eighty percent of children in those groups will become obese adults," Ihlenfeld said.

"In 2005 was the first time public schools were required to figure out the BMI of kids (based simply on height compared with weight) in kindergarten through fourth grade," she said. "It was the first time it went home to the parents. They might have known a child was a little overweight, that they might have a problem, though they don't think of them as obese."

The program is voluntary; no one child will not be recommended, Ihlenfeld said. "We want to put the kids in a positive environment."

The class consists of three sections, equal parts of physical fitness, nutrition including a snack, and self-esteem.

Ihlenfeld wrote the program with exercise science students from Slippery Rock University.

"Almost every community in the U.S. has a need, and we looked around and didn't see a program we liked, so the interns pulled all the research and we wrote a new program," Ihlenfeld said.

Then they had to find the funding to get it started. The new program is sponsored by the McKesson Foundation, HFC.

CHOICES will be conducted by Ken Khalouf, a December 2005 graduate of SRU. His degree is in exercise science, and he's currently studying physical education and health.

"The program is educational and fun," Khalouf said. "There'll be a reward system, a behavior change system. They'll be creating goals for themselves."

"The goals might not necessarily be to lose 15 pounds. It really is to help them learn how to make choices," he added.

Khalouf pointed to the myriad of inactive choices available for children. "Video games are really worse than TV in terms of just sitting there. It's fast food, too, sodas, sports drinks. The problem is not one-fold, it's about 20-fold," he said.

Ihlenfeld said, "It's not like there's a quick fix either, We recognize what we're stepping into is not an easy place."

A packet that will go home to participants' parents is designed to help the children follow up their healthy lifestyle choices. "It can be life-changing but it's not going to happen in six weeks," Khalouf said. "The parent package has ideas for packing healthy lunches and tells about activities all around Butler."

Reaching out to different age groups, the Y is targeting 6- to 11-year-olds with this program.

"YMCAs, if they do their job well, meet the needs of the community," Ihlenfeld said.

The flyers note that the six-week program is free, but since "attendance is imperative to success," a $25 fee will be charged, with $20 of it refunded with attendance of at least 10 of the 12 classes, which is meeting Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Registration for the program is taking place now. Call 724-287-4733.