Jake Nash is getting reacquainted with an old friend: the sun.

Twice weekly, during his lunch period at the Gesher Jewish Day School of Northern Virginia in Fairfax, 10-year-old Jake races outside with his fellow classmates to greet the orange orb's golden rays as they jog around the school's track.

Cooped up in a classroom for the majority of his day, Jake said he often gets antsy, squirming in his seat with excess energy. The outings with the school's new Mileage Club "help me get my energy out," said the fifth-grader.

It's an interactive activity that both parents and educators hope will motivate students to drop the video games, break away from their television screens and get active.

"Our kids live really structured lives these days, [and] we wanted to encourage them to move, and get moving in a creative way," said Cynthia Rutzick, co-president of Gesher's Parent Teacher Organization, who helped spawn the idea for the school's new Healthy Kids Initiative, a multipronged drive to get youngsters eating and thinking in healthier terms.

In addition to the lunchtime jaunts, the PTO is planning to hold a series of lectures to teach kids about healthy lifestyles and stress management. Other typical get-togethers, such as the school's movie night, will be abandoned and replaced with a less sedentary family dance night.

Since mid-September, Gesher students have made about 2,070 laps around the 1/5-mile track, which amounts to about 414 miles. Kids participate when the mood strikes them.

The school has set a goal of figuratively beating its eighth-grade class to Israel by collectively running 6,000 miles before May, when the eighth-graders will visit the Jewish state.

With images of overweight children becoming commonplace throughout America, PTO members devised a program that would bring students outdoors in the midst of their academic routines.

"The Jewish community is not excluded from the concern of our kids becoming obese," said Jake's mother, Michelle Nash, who serves as co-president of the PTO with Rutzick.

Rigid and overly crowded academic schedules, said the Annandale resident, often prevent the modern student from spending time outdoors.

"You send your kids off to school and they sit in a classroom all day, and then they come home, it's dark and they need to do homework," Nash said, lamenting her children's lack of free time.

Since exercise is rarely taking place outside of school for many kids, Rutzick, an Oakton resident, decided that they should start exercising during school -- beyond regular gym classes. That's the operating principle behind the Mileage Club's outings, which seem to have given students a new zeal for nutrition and health.

With the help of a few colorful incentives -- students can earn a variety of multicolored, beaded charms in the shape of feet for each completed mile -- students literally "walk, run, hop, skip [and] jump" throughout their lunch hour, Rutzick said.

Tina Ellerbee, an Annandale resident who often supervises the outings, said "it's great to actually be there, and the kids literally run outside while shouting, 'Mileage Club, Mileage Club!' "

The reward system, said Ellerbee, who has three kids at Gesher, has really gotten the students motivated.

Jake Nash agrees.

Hoping to get "one of every color feet," Jake said that he's been running about four miles each week. He consistently pushes himself to keep up the pace, even when he may be feeling a bit lazy.

"I get tired, and sometimes I don't really want to, but I make myself run," Jake said, pointing out that in his free time, he's now more likely to play outside, rather than with video or computer games.

That's a result that parents are seeking, and other positive effects, they say, have radiated throughout the school.

"From a parental perspective, I've heard a lot less about arguments" during recess, said Nash, who noted her son proudly wears his well-earned beads on a chain.

Gesher's health-conscious proclivity, however, doesn't end with the students. PTO parents are also jumping into the mix, meeting monthly to discuss different ways they can promote a salubrious lifestyle at home.

Parents also are aiming to stay fit through a weekly walking club around the school's sprawling 57-acre campus.

Vicki Fishman, a Falls Church resident who sits on the PTO's board, noted that the noncompetitive nature of the Mileage Club adds to its appeal.

"This is unusual in the sense that there's no pressure," Fishman said. "You don't have to coordinate it, or be the best at it; you just walk or run, or even dance around!"