Moving Right Along
Denise Thomas-Morrow brings exercise to the classroom
N
ot many people can say their business’
name was used for a nationwide campaign
headed by the fi rst lady, but Denise
Thomas-Morrow, owner of Let’s Move
Fitness and CEO of nonprofi t Healthy
Moves, knows that feeling all too well.
When she fi rst heard that Michelle Obama named her child
fi tness program “Let’s Move,” she could hardly believe it.
“Who would have known back in 1988 [when Thomas-
Morrow started her business] that the First Lady wanted
to use my business name for her national campaign?”
Thomas-Morrow says. “You don’t really want to go against
the president and his wife, so instead I thought we could try
to get involved with their cause.”
That’s how Healthy Moves came into being, as a
program that brings local fi tness instructors into schools
during PE classes to help teachers develop effective
exercise programs and techniques.
“The Bethel school district has never had PE teachers,”
Thomas-Morrow says. “These kindergarten through fi fth
grade teachers are doing everything, including having to
teach PE. Some of them have taken courses in PE, but
unfortunately, a lot of them have not.”
Vivacious and enthusiastic, Thomas-Morrow is a
natural fi t for the health and fi tness community. Although
she played volleyball and basketball and ran track in high
school, she turned her athletic aspirations toward dance
in college. She had never taken a dance class before, but
when she tried jazz on a whim, she loved the idea so much
that she switched her physical education major to dance,
moved to a new college and graduated from the UO with a
bachelor’s in dance.
After graduation, she moved to New York and studied
jazz, tap and African dance, but an encounter with an
aerobics class opened her eyes to a new form of fi tness,
prompting her to start Let’s Move Fitness. When Thomas-
Morrow moved back to Oregon, she took her fi tness studio
with her, followed by the creation of Healthy Moves.
BY AMY SCHNEIDER
“People are shocked to hear that kids don’t have PE
because growing up we had opportunities to be active,”
she says. “I was so fortunate for the opportunity to have PE
in elementary school, and I think other kids should have
that opportunity, too.”
Right now, Healthy Moves is in six schools in Bethel,
and Thomas-Morrow has worked with seven schools in
Springfi eld. The program switches districts as the seasons
change, and it currently serves grades K through 5.
Typically, an instructor will visit a school during a PE class
and assist the teachers, helping them develop a curriculum
P H OTO BY T R AS K BE D O RT H A
Kelsey
Juliana
& Olivia
Chernaik
Patricia Cortez
Patricia Cortez started
volunteering in 1997 at Amigos,
an organization that assists
Latino families arriving in the
U.S. after experiencing political
violence and torture. Since then,
not only has Cortez held every
position within the organization,
she created Juventud Faceta, a
leadership program for Latino
youth. “The social norm is that
young people are a trouble,
and are the problem of many
communities,” Cortez says, but
she challenges this idea in her
work every day. In its fi rst year,
Juventud Faceta was the fi rst
group selected for an award by
the city of Eugene’s Human
Rights Commission. Cortez
was the 2013 recipient of the
American Dream Award from
CAUSA, a statewide immigrant
rights coalition, for her work with
Latino youth. — Carolina Reid
P H OTO BY TOD D C OO P E R
with a variety of activities, including a warm-up and a
cool-down. Thomas-Morrow is also working with local
nonprofi t Ophelia’s Place to help develop a physical activity
component to its assortment of classes and workshops.
Thomas-Morrow works with all ages, from grade
school kids to seniors, and she says that anyone can benefi t
from more exercise. “Little things can build to big things,”
she says. “You don’t have to run a marathon; you can go
walking out in nature to see the eagles along the Willamette
River. That’s my big thing — to help everyone get up and
move.” ■
Kelsey Juliana and
Olivia Chernaik are suing
Gov. John Kitzhaber and the
state of Oregon under the
Public Trust Doctrine, and
their climate change case
came before the Oregon
Court of Appeals in January.
The young women say the
governor and state are failing
to protect essential natural
resources, including the
atmosphere, state waters
and coastlines. “I’m the
fi rst person that should be
stepping up,” Juliana says.
“You don’t have to be an
‘activist’ to do something.
You can be a kid or a parent.”
— Camilla Mortensen
P H OTO BY TO D D C O O P E R
EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • MARCH 20, 2014
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