PE4life is excited to partner with the Churchill Family Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation to provide a one-time partial scholarship to an Introductory Workshop at the PE4life Academy Training Center in Titusville, PA.
In 2006, a school from Tonganoxie, Kansas registered to attend a PE4life Academy Training in Titusville. They chose to attend Titusville because it was similar to their community in terms of size and school demographics. We were pleased to receive this update on their progress.
Hi Tim,
It’s been awhile since we have communicated and I thought it was about time we give you a P.E. update. Since we returned from visiting you in 2006, we have made great strides in unifying our physical education department. We presented to the board about our experience in Titusville and started envisioning what a future physical education program in Tonganoxie should look like. Tim, we are almost there!!!
We continued to discuss improvements and grant possibilities with our administrators. We were able to get help with a district-hired grant writer who had never even heard of the PEP grant. We gave her all kinds of information and we came up with a plan to collect data the following school year. Hopefully, you noticed that we were awarded the PEP grant in 2009. We named our PEP grant "Kansas Adventures" and focused on activities families could do in Kansas. Kids could learn about those activities then encourage their family to get involved. We concentrated on hiking, walking, and CPR/First Aid (high school) the first year, climbing and high adventure (high school) and bicycling the third year.
We now have a fitness room in each building, climbing walls in every gym with a high adventure course in the high school. We have added one full time P.E. teacher in each building giving us a total of 3 teachers per building which allowed us to add classes at the high school and help to address the overcrowded classes at the middle and elementary school. The third teacher at the elementary school has also been able to add a health curriculum for all students and is able to meet twice a month with each class for a standardized health lesson.
We have implemented Wel-Pro, a web-based tracking system for fitness tests so we can keep student information continuous through their years at Tonganoxie schools. We have written a guide for giving fitness tests in our district so that all of us use the same equipment in the same way and all of the testing can have accurate annual comparisons.
We are currently planning our bicycling strategy for year 3 and our district is hoping to pass a bond issue in April for a second elementary school. With administrator approval, there is a fitness room included in the plans as well as a gym that was enlarged to have 3 teaching spaces (3 cross-courts).
As I looked at the new building plans, I couldn't help but think it all started with a trip to Titusville, and the support of our administration believing in us. Thank you again for giving us the opportunity to see your program and know that you still continue to have an impact on our physical education program.
Together in physical education, sincerely,
Ursula Kissinger
Tonganoxie Elementary School
Tonganoxie, KS
Congratulations Tonganoxie School District! Keep up the great work!
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Churchill Family Fund PE4life Introductory Workshop Scholarship
Deadline to Apply: Friday, February 25, 2011
How to Apply: Fill out and submit this application following the directions on the form.
The Titusville Area School District (Titusville, PA) has been recognized as a PE4life Academy. PE4life Academies are exemplary physical education programs that open their doors to others in efforts to inspire and paint a picture of quality programming. If representatives from your school are interested in attending an Introductory Workshop at a PE4life Academy, contact Rachelle Gardner at rgardner@pe4life.org or 816-472-7345.
Learn more about PE4life Academies and our Support Services here.
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