New Shoes Help North PE Class Improve From the Ground Up
A North High student checks out the new spring in his step at the Nike Factory Store.
Here’s a feel-good follow-up that’s flashy as a new pair of shoes (or 20).
Early this semester we reported on a new PE class at North High School that was picking up speed. The Psychology of Health and Fitness ballooned from four students last fall to 24 in its second semester, thanks mainly to rave reviews from those first four students.
Well, it’s almost time for spring final exams. In the case of this mind/body PE class, that means running in the Des Moines Police Department’s second annual Run With the Police 5K on May 21st.
The flesh is strong but the shoes are weak. The students have practically run out of their old ones. And that’s where Mediacom/OnMedia and their favorite charity, Shoes That Fit, stepped in. Shoes That Fit is a frequent benefactor of needy DMPS kids and they came through again.
But not right away. Carlye Satterwhite is the DMPS Curriculum Coordinator for Physical Education. When North PE teacher Lisa Klein put out the call for some help with proper running shoes for her class final Satterwhite relayed it to STF and Mediacom.
“We turned her down at first,” explained Bob Montgomery of Mediacom. “Our school programs target elementary kids in grades K-6 and these are high school kids. But she persisted. She sent us the video of a feature on the class and we decided to make an exception. It’s a great story.”
A story that goes back quite a ways before we shared it in February. The class, or something like it, was originally the idea of DMPS school board member Cindy Elsbernd whose schools-based nonprofit called Iowa Kidstrong/KidStriders has been getting a foothold in district elementary schools in recent years. Elsbernd had a vision for scaling up the message of fitness and healthy lifestyles to secondary levels.
After a slow start in its first semester, the new class has hit its stride this spring. Satterwhite expects it will expand to at least Roosevelt, East and Central Campus next fall. The curriculum at Central will culminate with students running the Drake Relays Half Marathon next spring. At North, Klein expects to teach at least three sections of Psychology of Health and Fitness next year. Satterwhite says the results so far are encouraging enough to be the basis for an application for a federal PEP (Physical Education Program) grant. If that comes through the PE aspect of the DMPS push to become the model for urban education will kick into high gear.
North is one of next year’s “Schools for Rigor” pilot cohort that transitions classrooms from top down, teacher-centric instruction models to student-driven ones where teachers facilitate instead of giving orders. In PE that translates into crafting individualized training and lifestyle programs aligned with students’ personal goals. Classes as custom-fitted as the right pair of shoes, like the new ones Klein and her class slipped into at the Nike factory store on Mills Civic Parkway Wednesday afternoon.
They’ll even have time to break them in and avoid race day blisters. Many in the class slapped on their new kicks as soon as they checked out. They might have just run the 12 or so miles back to school from Jordan Creek if there hadn’t been a big yellow bus waiting outside to take them there.
Thanks, Mediacom/OnMedia and Shoes That Fit, for putting yourselves in these kids’ shoes.
