[320] MTSU, Tennessean 'tweetup' for Child Obesity Awareness Day

MTSU, Tennessean 'tweetup' for Child Obesity Awareness Day

FOR RELEASE: March 14, 2012
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Doug Williams, 615-898-2920 or Doug.Williams@mtsu.edu

MURFREESBORO—MTSU and The Tennessean will combine forces to alert people in middle Tennessee and beyond about the dangers of childhood obesity in an on-campus “Tweetup” on Tuesday, March 20.

MTSU’s Dr. Don Morgan, an expert on physical fitness and childhood obesity, and Tennessean Health Editor Heidi Hall, will give a presentation framing this statewide epidemic. Their ideas to help chip away at the problem are aimed at inspiring students and parents, journalists and teachers, community and business to learn more about childhood obesity and get involved in solving it.

The event will be held in Room 121 of the Cason-Kennedy Nursing Building on the MTSU campus. Sessions are scheduled at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.

MTSU will broadcast Morgan and Hall’s presentations live on www.BrainstormNashville.com, The Tennessean’s new digital hub for community problem-solving. The broadcast will include resources and links dedicated to the problem of childhood obesity, which has been a marquee campaign for the newspaper’s journalists and editorial writers.

MTSU students, faculty and community members, as well as others in the community who can’t attend the Tweetup will be encouraged to publicize the event via Twitter and Facebook using the hashtag #ChildObesity and the Facebook event tag “Child Obesity Awareness Day.”

A “Tweetup” is a gathering of people who use Twitter, an online social-networking service that enables users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters.

Tweetups are usually social events but also are organized for special causes or to address and accomplish community goals. The later is precisely what Brainstorm Nashville hopes to do with the March 20 event.

The Tweetup is part of a new strategic partnership between MTSU and The Tennessean supporting the BrainstormNashville.com website. Organizers say the event will not only bring attention to the problem of childhood obesity but it also will serve as an educational event for those seeking to create positive change and to leverage their followers to spread the Brainstorm Nashville message.

The Cason-Kennedy Nursing Building is on the MTSU campus at the corner of Faulkinberry Drive and Champions Way, just west of the Reese Smith Jr. Baseball Stadium. Tweetup participants can park in the north lot adjoining the CKNB or in one of three lots adjacent to the building.

For more details on the March 20 Tweetup, visit http://mtsunews.com/tweetup.

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