Funding Opp that can Jumpstart your PE Program!

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.

The Power of PEP

This article is a blast from the past, but it so perfectly highlights the Power of the PEP Grant. Learn how the PE4life Academy Training Center in Titusville, PA came to be and how others have put their funding to good use...


Fitness Assessment
The popular PEP grant program has allowed hundreds of school districts to re-energize P.E. programs with new equipment and specialized training.

By Michael Popke, January 2008

Tim McCord was bored. The year was 1999, and after two decades as a physical education teacher at Titusville (Pa.) Middle School — where classes revolved around a traditional curriculum of football in the fall, basketball in the winter, and softball and track and field in the spring — he was looking for a challenge, something to re-energize his department, his students and himself.

"I'd been doing the same things for about 20 years at that time, and I could have continued to do them standing on my head," says McCord, now chair of the physical education department for the Titusville Area School District. "I thought, 'Is it really our job to teach these kids sports skills? Or is it our job to teach them how to live healthy lives?' "

To find the answer, McCord requested permission from the district's superintendent to take a field trip to Naperville, Ill., where students at Central High School were among the first in the country to participate in physical education classes that actually improved more than their ball-handling skills. There, he saw instructors incorporating high-tech fitness equipment and detailed health-risk assessments into everyday P.E. classes.

No longer bored, McCord returned to Titusville — a small and economically stressed community in which half of all students at the time were eligible for free or reduced school-lunch programs — and shared his findings with the school board. The next thing he knew, McCord was handed a check for $30,000 (10 times the district's entire physical education budget that year) to revamp the middle school's P.E. department with cardiovascular-fitness and strength-training equipment, along with plenty of heart-rate monitors. With the following year came another check, this one for $40,000 to replicate the middle school's program at Titusville High School. One year later, the district gave McCord an additional $10,000 to purchase fitness-assessment machines for both schools.

Then, in 2003, the district was awarded $342,000 from the federal government in the form of a Carol M. White Physical Education Program (PEP) grant, which funded repairs and upgrades to existing equipment, added climbing or traversing walls at every school in the district, and expanded overall P.E. programming. Then came the clincher: The high school's principal rearranged for the daily schedule to expand from eight classes to nine, shifting periods from 43 minutes to 40 and making room for daily P.E. sessions.

"All I did was explain to our school board that our physical education program was going nowhere," McCord says. "Now I don't think our kids understand how good they have it."

Continue to read the rest of the article...

Learn more about visiting a PE4life Academy Training Center.

Excuses, Excuses

Welcoming back guest blogger: Tim McCord, PE4life Academy Director, Titusville Area School District, Titusville, PA

In the last ten years our school district has hosted numerous teachers, administrators, and parents all looking for ways to take PE4life's Core Principles integrated into our physical education program in Titusville, PA and implement them into their existing program. It has been an interesting experience and one in which many new friends and networking buddies have been made.

As I conduct the PE4life workshops I am often taken aback by the “excuse making” that I meet. Trust me when I say the excuses are many and usually universal in nature. Here are just a few.

“We can’t do that at our school.”
“We don’t have the money for those types of things.”
“My principal would never support that.”

Sound familiar? In addition to the excuses I would be remiss if I did not mention how often I hear the phrase “what if…” usually followed by something along the line of “the students refuse to do that.”

Up to this point you may have thought I was going to throw these “excuse makers” and “what if” people under the bus. Not so. Instead I am going to give them a little McCord family advice.

You see, from the time I was a little tot (for those that know me, some will say I am still a little tot in stature…just a lot older), my dear mother would frequently offer her musings when I met with frustration. Mom would tell me, “Can’t never did anything until Try showed him how.” If I only had a nickel for every time I have heard that phrase from Mom. And now, I would like to pass it along to every teacher who tries to improve the physical education program in their school.

Sure, you are going to meet roadblocks and stumble along the way. But, how much progress would you have made if you had never tried at all?

There is no better time than the present to be a physical educator. The spotlight is shining upon us. Research has shown the importance of our profession. Children suffering from obesity need our help. Our First Lady has jumped on board to offer her help.

If you are a physical educator looking to make changes in your program, take advantage of everything available to you and make the first step toward a quality PE program. Network with your colleagues. Investigate the latest research as to the connection of fitness and academics. Get involved with PE4life through their newsletter, attend an event or sign up for Program Support Services to learn the latest trends in PE.

And most of all, heed the advice of Mother McCord. Don’t let the “I Can’t” creep into your thinking. Take the first step towards quality physical education in your school district. Just give it a TRY.

"Can't never did anything until TRY showed him how." -- Mother McCord