Holman (Apr 24/06) - Delta-area students experimented with gravity recently, but that meant seeing what would happen when they dropped fizzy soda pop from their diets, not testing Earth's planetary pull.

For one week students were encouraged to drink juice and make healthy eating choices instead of loading up on sugary drinks.

"We don't allow pop in schools anyway, so this was in addition to that," said Robert Genge, principal of Angik school in Paulatuk.

Students got to munch granola bars, as well as apples and oranges. Prizes were handed out to those who took part.

At some schools, healthy ideas about food were combined with activities to inspire maintaining a healthy life.

"We had regular exercises for 10 minutes each day with music piped through the school," said Chip Bryant, vice-principal of Helen Kalvak Elihakvik school in Ulukhaktok, formerly called Holman.

"The school came alive in the classrooms or in the gym doing push ups or jumping jacks or agility challenges," Bryant said.

This is the first year for Drop the Pop at the school. The campaign has happened at various Nunavut schools for the past few years.

"It was a fantastic success. The kids loved coming to school and attendance was up, so it was great," Bryant said.

The students also took the healthy message to the community with brochures explaining the effects of too much caffeine or sugar in a diet.

"In a lot of cases, Drop the Pop would be carried over at home where the whole family made an effort to eat healthy for the week," he said.

"We also took three days of the week where we did a healthy lunch for selected groups: the teachers and district education authority, for preschoolers and daycare children, and toward the end of the week for the elders," he said.

Once the week was over, two things happened.

"By Saturday everyone was at the store to get their fix (of pop)!" Bryant said with a laugh.

But more seriously, "for us at the school, we talked about making some changes down the road" to the school's breakfast program, the vice-principal said.

"It's a pretty good program, but there are always changes you can make to tweak it," Bryant said.