PE4life and Grundy Center Iowa a GREAT place to be...........

On Sunday, March 7th I, along with several Titusville School District educators, boarded a Northwest Airplane to fly to Grundy Center, Iowa. At this moment in time we, with the exception other than Tim Miller and Tim McCord, who at other times have participated in such P.E. training, had no idea of what we were about to experience. We had been told that we were going to see the elementary style PE4life program. However I know that I was in the dark as to what that really meant.

Other than a few bumpy moments we experienced in the air, we arrived at our destination at approximately 9:30 pm, glad to be in Grundy Center and ready to enjoy our accommodations. The next morning we got started early, a 7:30 am meeting with Rick Schupbach, Grundy Center's Mr. PE4life. As we entered the school building, we were treated to some wonderful sights and sounds as the educating of Grundy Center's youth was beginning to unfold for the day.

 

Next we met with our host for the day, the "illustrious" Mr. Rick Schupbach. I say illustrious because indeed that defines this most outstanding educator. Mr. Schupbach embodies, in word and deed, the great dignity and personal achievement that can be found in education. By watching him instruct, with excitement and enthusiasm, you could see the students enjoying physical exercise to its fullest. It was clear the students understood the PE4life philosophy and I was beginning to see the "big picture".

So what is the "big picture" what is the PE4life philosophy? This program and all of its subparts, making good health choices, setting fitness and life goals, as well as monitoring one's heart, are important for all children. This philosophy was clearly put into action by Mr. Schupbach through his gym class that is an energetic and fun filled learning environment.

Grundy Center schools also believe in this philosophy and have put their beliefs into action by allowing for an everyday PE schedule. It spoke to the heart of any successful program that is success due to content and delivery. The first, content, must be taught in a meaningful and relevant manner. The second, delivery, relies on the power of the individual to get the message across. Both dimensions are important and model the essential keys for developing a healthy and physically active 21st century.

During our visit, we were able to meet the magnanimous Beth Kirkpatrick whose courageous spirit helps to fuel and support Grundy's PE4life programs. Mrs. Kirkpatrick's enthusiasm for the well being of all individuals is not a secret. Her dedication to defining attainable, individual life goals for all children is unprecedented. She makes all who come in contact with her realize that everyone should have the opportunity to become someone special. It appears that Mrs. Kirkpatrick's drive and belief system have made her a valuable supporter and asset for the PE4life program. She is one of those special people in life that everyone should meet.

Each educator on the trip took something different away for this experience. Mrs. Deb Forker, an elementary administrator, saw the program through the eyes of "time-on task". She saw students constructively engaged in learning, which eliminated off task behaviors and promoted self-reflective learning that benefited each individual. The program, Mrs. Forker states is more than just PE, it is an initiative that incorporates both mind and body wellness. Lastly, as a life long educator, Mrs. Forker states, that in a world where seeking "best practices" is vitally important, it is encouraging to note that there are a growing number of physical education teachers and coaches that are beginning to collaborate and deliver exemplary wellness programs such as PE4life.

Mr. Tim McCord our district's PE department chair also traveled with the group. Mr. McCord has played a defining role in securing our district as the next PE4life institute. Although, he has been associated with PE4life for sometime, he also took something away from this experience. His thoughts centered around the fact that although Grundy Center does have very nice fitness equipment it is more important that the instructor make the most of the instruction itself. No time was wasted; curriculum integration was done through class time strategies, and Mr. Schupbach's class management centered on student engagement. All of which displayed instructional best practice.

Mr. Tim Miller, one of two physical education instructors in attendance, shared that the PE4life program in Grundy Center is not just about wonderful equipment and facilities. He agrees with Mr. McCord, the true focus needs to be student wellness and the integration of learning for a mind that has been challenged with knowledge and movement. That is what is emphasized in the PE4life program. Mr. Miller noted that student involvement, from beginning to end, was a high priority that gave strength and structure to their physical workout. PE4life has a way of making a level playing field for all students and gives each child the opportunity to fell good about him/herself.

Mr. Vic Carr, another PE instructor, stated that the integration of composers and the music they wrote, as well as other music selections set the tone for a rich and animated lesson. He also stated, "the beginning warm up period and the ending cool down period, gave him some motivational ideas too share with his PE classes".

In summary, Grundy Center, Iowa is a great place to be for many reasons, one of them being PE4life. For you see at Grundy Center it is more than a program, it is a belief system that holds sacred the ideals and beliefs that every citizen, young or old, short or tall, slim or heavy, rich or poor have the right to make healthy choices. To such an end, I hope and pray that we too, in days to come, might provide our learning community with many opportunities for mind and body wellness. But for all you pessimists we say you just got to see it to believe it. PE4life is for real people in a real world and it should be considered for all levels of learners.



Dennis Ledebur

Elementary Principal

Titusville Area School District

Titusville, Pa.





I recently visited Grundy Center, Iowa and had a superb PE training with Rick Schupbach. After meeting Rick and watching him in action with his students and what he has done to increase the fitness level and fitness awareness of this students and community, I have become very enthusiastic about motivating my students to a higher level of fitness.

My school district has received the PEP Grant in 2003 and purchased new cardio equipment and heart rate monitors. The district is committed to a higher level of fitness for our students. It is our goal come September 2004 our PE program will be a model for others to see and that will be thanks to Rick Schupbach and PE4life.



Rhonda Ritz

Camden County Technical Schools, Pennsauken Campus

Pennsauken, NJ





Dear Rick,

You are an amazing teacher! Thank you for all the time and effort that you put into making my visit and training so successful. The training was very worthwile and I have come home with more ideas than I thought was possible. My visit exceeded my expectations. Thank you!



Chris Nordsttom

Ephiphany School

Seattle, Washington



Dear Rick,

Thanks so much for allowing us to attend the PE4life training session at Grundy Center! You not only gave us the first step and vision to improve our program, you gave all of us a piece of your personal passion and your passion for our profession. Your knowledge and guidance I know will be a great help for us in taking the next steps toward creating a quality program. Please pass on my thanks to your outstanding students, student teachers, staff and administration for making our day an enjoyable, an informative, and an inspirational experience. We hope our journey leads to a quality program such as yours.

Again, thank you for your time and great information. The PE4life organization is very lucky to have you as one of its directors!



Sincerely,



Mike Sinram

Waterloo Community Schools

Waterloo, Iowa





Dear Rick:

I would like to thank you for providing the funds to give me the opportunity to visit the PE4life Academy in Grundy Center, Iowa. It was a great experience to get to visit aother district and see how their physical education program is run. Your collaboration with the community gives them the best physical education program I have ever seen. It is everything that I have dreamed my program would someday be. Your philosophy of physical education is identical to mine and is every reason that I became a physical educator. I feel that it is important to teach young children the life skills to grow up to be physically active and healthy adults. I know from experience working with adults that it is very important to teach them these skills from a young age. The longer that people are physically inactive, the harder it is to get them to become active. Physical inactivity has a direct affect on their ability to be productive workers as students and as adults.

I plan on using some of the resources I gained from this visit to get my community more involved in my physical education program and to raise awareness of the importance of physical education and health within my school district. I feel that this opportunity came along at the perfect time for me because due to state budget cuts our district is recommending that the school board do away with our health program in order to save money by eliminating 10 physical education positions. I am hoping that speaking at the PE4life Summit will help me advocate to my community how my program can help to curb the problem of childhood obesity and hopefully help to save my program.

I would like to be able to use some of the technology used at the PE4life Academy as a form of student assessment. Your use of heart rate monitors with students every day as a form of assessment is impressive. Allowing every student to be evaluated on their effort and not their abilities is a key way to show students that they are not being judged on their physical abilities or judged against another student. Our current district assessment is based on physical ability and behavior which I don't feel is an adequate assessment for a physical education program. I have heart rate monitors that my district had purchased several years ago and I don't think that anyone has ever used them. I plan on trying to use them myself if I can get the batteries replaced in them. I hope that I will then have some data to show my district and help persuade them on the importance of using technology in the physical education classroom. I would again like to thank you for giving me this opportunity.



Sincerely



Amy Waters

Nashua Elementary School





Dear Rick:

Just a quick note to say thank you for the in-service and training seesion you conducted last Friday. I loved it! Our PE teachers are highly motivated to establish PE4life in our schools; after spending the day in Grundy Center with all of you, I can see why. Don and I both brought the subject up at our school board meeting Monday evening. I've also spoken with the head of secondary education as to the possibilty of implementing PE4life in the high schools. You are an excellent speaker and motivator. We would like to have you present a short talk on this program to our board sometime in the near future. We'll just have to come up with a mutually convenient time. Thanks again for a wonderful day. Everyone in your school system that I met--teachers and students alike--were so gracious and informative. You have a great thing going!



Sincerely.

Barb Opheim

School Board Member

Waterloo Community Schools