When discussion centers around health and wellness, the news is not always good. It's downright scary. Especially for children, who often return home from school and plop down on the couch, remote in hand, and stay put until summoned for dinner.

No wonder three out of eight children in North Texas are overweight or obese and a whopping 70 percent are expected to become obese as adults.

On Tuesday at AT&T Stadium, an unprecedented collaboration was announced to combat the sort of childhood obesity that not only slows children in athletics and with academic focus but can also lead to lifelong struggles with weight and higher risks for cancer, heart disease and stroke.

A pair of in-school nutrition and physical activity programs is teaming up to assist schools in pursuit of healthy practices and to honor them when they pull it off. Fuel Up to Play 60 (FUTP60) and Healthy Zone School Recognition Program will lead the charge while collaborating with the Dallas Cowboys, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the Cooper Institute.

Arlington ISD will work to register its schools in this pilot program to participate in FUTP60 beginning next school year. The first round of Arlington's Healthy Zone School Recognition Program selections will be announced at the National Fuel to Play 60 Youth Ambassadors Summit hosted at AT&T Stadium in July.

A total of 21 schools will be selected for Healthy Zone Schools by the completion of the pilot program in 2017, after which time the nearly 65,000 students in AISD will have had the opportunity to create positive, sustainable change for their district.

"As a physician I've always had an interest in public health, so this is dear to my heart," said Mayor Robert Cluck. "Over the past 20 years, the obesity rate in children has doubled. And over that time the obesity rate in teenagers has tripled."

He joined Cowboys Executive Vice President and Chief Brand Officer Charlotte Jones Anderson, GENYOUth Foundation CEO Alexis Glick, United Way of Metropolitan Dallas CEO Jennifer Sampson, Cooper Institute President and CEO Blaine Nelson, and AISD Superintendent Dr. Marcelo Cavazos as podium speakers.

Schools joining the program receive a toolkit consisting of healthy "plays" for better nutrition and physical activity while implementing those plays to become eligible for grants up to $4,000 annually.

Dr. Cavazos said for children in school, poor nutrition and inactivity is "a focus killer." He called in-school wellness programs "vital" in improving academic performance.

"This is a momentous occasion for us," said Jones Anderson, whose audience also included students from Swift Elementary in Arlington. "We've always been supportive of kids; now we have the opportunity to step up and do something really important. We'll have the opportunity to reach millions of kids in our Play 60 platforms. The main thing we want to do is empower the students to understand that they can control their own health and their own wellness. That's the start of change."