Monday was the first day of fall conferences at Harding Middle School. While they were going on inside, a spirited game of pickup basketball was happening outside on the playground. Why not? It was a beautiful day, and besides, the gym was in use. FREE physical exams were available there at an ad hoc medical clinic for students wanting to sign up for winter sports.
“We started a great partnership with the Iowa Clinic this year that allows us to provide free sports physicals to our students,” said DMPS Student Activities Specialist Troy Owens. “The current arrangement is with just six schools (Harding, Hiatt, Hoyt, McCombs, Weeks, and Rails Academy). They are conducting on-site clinics multiple times a year at each of these buildings in order to provide free sports physicals to students who want to participate in athletics. This eliminates a huge barrier for our students and their families.”
There’s abundant evidence that involvement in extracurricular activities leads to improved academic achievement and reduced behavior referrals for students, so anything that streamlines the path to participation is a plus. This particular program resulted from a $20,000 Rise Up Iowa grant the Iowa Clinic Foundation awarded to Harding in 2016.
Shannon Camodeca is the whizbang Instructional Coach/Activities Director at Harding, and she had nothing but good things to report about the impacts of that investment on the Harding kids.
“We were able to purchase new uniforms and equipment, provide snacks and water for our sports teams and after school clubs, end of season banquets, and offer in-house physicals courtesy of the Iowa Clinic,” she said. “We had physicians and nurses here three times last year and more than 40 students received free physicals and were able to participate in sports. The Iowa Clinic asked if I thought it would be beneficial to branch this out into the district, and I immediately said yes.”
The idea is to couple the physical exam clinics with other events that bring families into the schools, like back-to-school nights and fall/spring conferences.
“In August, at Back to School Night, we had approximately 30 students receive physicals,” Camodeca said. “Tonight we are… looking forward to larger swimming, wrestling, and basketball teams. We will host our third and final free physical night for the year in February at spring conferences. I have seen a 12% increase in student participation in sports, especially our ELL population. After speaking with parents, they are incredibly grateful to have the opportunity here in the building.”
Seventh grader Hayden Johnson wants to wrestle. He’s never been on a team before, but his status as a little brother should prove helpful as he trains to grapple with kids his own size and age.
“Mr. (Trevor) Hixon is our coach and he told me I could get my physical right here at school,” Hayden said in between filling out paperwork, reading eye charts and getting his blood pressure checked.
Eighth grader Trinh Nguyen doesn’t have prior basketball experience, but she decided she “wants to get active,” so she was there, too.
Yesterday’s beautiful weather won’t last. Those playground basketball games will have to move inside where the coaching and the uniforms and the scoreboards are.
“We had twice as many kids show up for our preseason basketball meeting this year,” said Camodeca, and she’s certain that’s because there’s one less reason not to – thanks to the Iowa Clinic.
