'Count Your Steps' Contest Kickoff

AUBURN HILLS (WWJ) - Over a hundred school kids joined Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson at the Palace of Auburn Hills, Tuesday, to kick off the annual "Count Your Steps" competition.

 Students from over 130 schools will compete to see who walks the most for prizes.

Patterson said he got the idea after hearing a speech on the impact of childhood obesity.

"If we can get kids to exercise, maybe we can ward off some of the effects," Patterson said.  "So we came up with a pedometer walking programs where students can challenge each other district by district," he said.

Kids will wear pedometers and keep track of the fruits and vegetables they eat during the competition. Last year, students walked more than 1.1 billion steps.

Over 156,000 students have taken part in the program since its inception in 2004.

Top students can win prizes like a Wii Fit exercise video game, a family pass to the Detroit Zoo or a Detroit Tigers game package.

The top three schools will be recognized in a special ceremony later this spring. Last year's third and fourth graders at Shrine Catholic Grade School took top honors with over 52 million steps.