INDIANAPOLIS -- A new fitness program created by students aims to help others learn about healthy living.

Friday was Fitness Friday at Franklin Central High School in Indianapolis.

Thats the name of a new fitness program created by students, following an obesity study they conducted for a class project.

Students set out to find how the disease impacted their classmates.

"Twenty-six percent of our students are obese. That does not include the students who are overweight," said Angie McKinney, fitness class instructor.

In Indiana, only freshmen are required to take physical education. To encourage the entire student body to become more active, McKinney’s students began appearing on commercials aired on school TV in April.

Every Friday the commercials offer simple exercises students can do at their desks or in the hallway. Students were encouraged to put pep in their steps to and from class to rev up their hearts.

"The best exercise for me is the power walking. It makes my legs strong," said Angel Dodd, a junior.

Students learned that using books for weighs help tone muscles.

"I can wake up and put on clothes and they look better. And I can run my miles in eight and a half minutes now," said senior Donna Cisoeros.

"It's slimmed me down, got me breathing better. It's helped me out a little bit," said John Goebel, an junior who has dropped ten pounds since the program began.

Phillipp Rippberger is a foreign exchange student from Germany. He told 6News Staying Healthy reporter Stacia Matthews that the daily workouts are a nice break to the workload.

"You have the possibility to do something besides studying and it helps to relax kind of," he said.

McKinney said Friday Fitness is paying off. In just six weeks, students have lost 6 percent of their body composition.

Even though the end of the year is near, McKinney said many of the students have no intention of stopping what they've started.

"The activities they've learned in the Fitness Friday are activities they can do at home and over the summer or they can go out and walk and everything with their friends in their neighborhoods," McKinney said.

Franklin Township is one of three school districts in Indiana selected to participate in the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a partnership between the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation to fight childhood obesity.

School administrators are so impressive with the results of Friday Fitness, the program is being added to the school’s curriculum next year.