NILES — A little walking can provide a whole lot of benefits.

That’s what Ring Lardner Middle School hopes to see as part of a health initiative to get students outside to walk before they spend a day sitting in class.

For the past two weeks, students in the seventh and eighth grade have spent 20 minutes three days a week outside walking laps just on the south side lawn of the school.

On a brisk Tuesday morning, Ring Lardner Middle School students were at it again, warming up by running and walking alongside the school. As they completed a rotation, students slid a scanner code in front of an electronic lap tracker shaped like a penguin and nicknamed Sparky. With each rotation, Sparky emitted a beep, indicating that he was tracking their mileage.

Principal Adam Burtsfield said the effort is one in several approaches that the middle school is taking to get students more engaged in being active and eating healthy.

“Our big goal has been to start supporting healthier lifestyles for our students,” Burtsfield said. “Through some research we did using student surveys, [we] realized they didn’t have the healthiest of lifestyles.”

Last fall, the school secured a Building Healthy Communities Grant to help fund a few of the initiatives, including one about nutrition.

In April, the school hosted a March Madness contest. Instead of basketball stars, the competition involved fruits and vegetables. Students sampled a fruit and vegetable during their lunch hour and voted on their favorites, advancing one all-star to the top of the bracket.

School officials also wanted to find an exercise activity that students could participate in, so they started a walking club. This year, the exercise coincides with MSTEP and PSAT testing, and school officials hope it helps students focus better on the material.

As for Sparky, Burtsfield said the robot tracker and scanner tags were donated to the school. With an effort to give the walking a competition element, Burtsfield said students challenge themselves to see who can acquire the most laps.

Through some research, Burtsfield said school officials found studies that indicated that walking 20 minutes a day can help to increase blood flow and oxygen to the brain.

“Evan [Winkler, the assistant principal], had a cool graphic that showed your brain at rest, compared to what it looks like after you have walked for 20 minutes,” Burtsfield said. “You can just see like all the neurons firing and how there is more activity going in the brain. We figured why not give it a shot and see what happens?”

Burtsfield said eighth-grade teachers had noted a difference in students’ behavior since the walking club began. He said the teachers described students as more alert and focused during tests.

“Just off initial observations, they feel the kids have been more attentive and more on task,” Burtsfield said.

Burtsfield said the school hopes to implement the walking program year-round next year. With students spending more time walking, he said school officials hope to encourage a life-long habit.

“Hopefully this will develop more well-rounded students, give them some skills to be successful in life, both academically, emotionally, socially and physically,” Burtsfield said.