By

Donna Labbe-Leal,   Grant Middle School

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Our success story isn’t about one particular student. It’s about the majority of our 6th and 7th grade PE classes. As a whole, cardiovascular-wise, we are a struggling community. As PE teachers and coaches, we try to instill into our students that “moving” is a smart alternative for a healthier future. We have all our students participate in strength exercises and an endurance run before we begin our activity of the day. We start off with a short run so we can actually see where our students stand. We increase the time by 30 seconds each six weeks. The girls also do a timed 800 on the days we are outside. They get so excited to see the progress and how much better their physical condition is. Most of our students that were once walkers have become runners. It is a life skill that is awesome to have!

What improvements have you seen at your school?

We have seen very positive improvements with all our students. We have seen our walkers become runners and they are so proud that they can do that! They have more energy and they are willing to be more involved in all our activities.