PhilsBlog

Carol White PEP Grants

Posted At : March 25, 2008 9:10 PM | Posted By : Admin
Related Categories: PE in the news

PEP GRANT
 
Well, if you have not sent in your 2008 PEP grant application, you are too late. Monday March 24th was the deadline for 2008 applications. Obviously if you are visiting this website and reading this blog, you are a physical education leader looking for new ideas.
 
If your district did not apply for the PEP grant this year, why not? Were you too busy? Did the application process look to difficult? Did you think you would not have a chance to win? What ever your reason, change your thinking and start planning on applying in 2009. From the time the federal government released the application and the grant deadline is a very short period of time. You need to start planning your grant well in advance of the grant applications. You need to start by doing a district needs assessment. Do a survey of all the PE teachers in your district and ask them to compile a “wish list” of equipment or professional in-service that would take your PE program to another level. Start doing research on “best practice”, call schools in your state that have already won PEP grants for ideas. Investigate opportunities to get assistance in writing your PEP grant. The first place to start is contact our PE4life headquarters and find out what resources are available to help you with your PEP grant.
 
If you write your first PEP grant and do not win, you still will gain valuable experience. Your grant will be scored and you can find out how to improve your grant application the following year. Many successful PEP grant winners did not win the first year, but they remained persistent, and applied the following year.
 
Talk to anyone that has won a PEP grant and they will tell you, it is well worth the time and effort. Hundreds of PE programs have made dramatic changes in their PE programs after winning a PEP grant. Once they school district has financial support to run a quality program, the local district sees the change, and most PEP winners discovered they have much stronger support for their program even after the PEP money has been spent.
 
You can win and you can make a difference for every child in your district, make up your mind right now to start putting your plan in place.
 
Congratulations to all those school districts that went the extra mile and scrambled to get their PEP application in on time. Good Luck and hopefully you will receive that phone call in the fall that will change your program for ever…….the call that says….Congratulations; you have won the Carol White PEP grant for 2008.
 
If you are a winner in the fall, you need to mark your calendar: Sept 18th and 19th PE4life will be hosting their 2nd annual PEP Rally for all the PEP grant winners. Our first conference was a huge success. Just one part of the day included a panel discussion with 5 former PEP grant winners talking about all of their valuable experience. Winning the PEP grant is exciting but using the money wisely is critical. PEP grant winners submitted questions before the conference, and before the day was over, we covered every thing a new PEP winner would need to know. We even cover the critical information on what to do when the PEP money is gone.
 
 PE4life was involved helping write the initial language for the PEP grant. No organization in the country has worked with more PEP grant winners than PE4life. Even the federal government has asked PE4life to give presentations at the mandatory PEP meetings for all the PEP winners in Washington DC.
 
If you are a PEP winner – become a real winner and tap PE4life for invaluable information about how to utilize your PEP grant most effectively.
Stay tuned to the PE4life website for valuable information regarding PEP grants. In the near future we are going to release the real story about an American heroine Carol White. Thousand of schools have received millions of dollars from the PEP grant but I have never talked to a PEP winner that knew the lady behind the grant, Carol White. If you are a PEP grant winner or not, you will want to hear and share the inspirational story about Carol White.
 

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You Do The Math - Cost of Quality PE

Posted At : December 8, 2007 6:07 PM | Posted By : Admin
Related Categories: PE in the news

 
Did you know the average American school spends about a $1.49 per student per year in the school’s physical education budget? Isn’t it sad, the most Americans throw more change in their car cup holder driving through McDonalds each week,  than they are willing to invest in a physical education programs. If taught properly, a quality physical education program is the number one defense at fighting the childhood obesity crisis, and eventually solves the American crisis of future health care cost.
 
Most school administrators argue we can not afford quality physical education programs.
I believe it is a matter of making physical education and the health of our children a priority.
 
About 25 years ago, the experts in education, the experts that were making decisions on what was best for children said, in order to prepare children for the 21st century, we need computer labs in every American school. School leaders said they could not afford the expensive computers, fast forward 25 years. School leaders made computers a priority and now every school in the nation have computer labs.
 
I think the “experts” in education need to make the same commitment to physical education if we are going to prepare students for the 21st century. The first argument from schools, we can not afford quality PE. The first question should be, is there a need to focus on the health of children. The second question, can we afford not to invest in the health of students. 
 
What does it cost to put in a first class “fitness lab”, like schools did with computer labs…. Well…….You Do The Math

Do you have a calculator handy….………. take the time to do this simple math problem…..I will give you the correct answer…testing your math skills..

Madison Junior High (PE4LIFE Academy) invested a $100,000 in a state of the art fitness center – this center includes a fully equipped fitness center with cardio and strength machines, exergames, a rock climbing wall, and the latest technology to collect data on the health of children…..

Now do the math:

$100,000 cost

Divide by 1000 (the number of students in the school)

Now divide by 10 ( the number of years quality fitness equipment will last in a school setting with proper care – actually it will last longer than 10 years)

Now divide by 180 ( the number of school days in a normal school year)

Answer to the math question………… it cost a little over 5 cents a day to provide equipment for a first class physical education program
  • note– students that have gone through this program, only 3% of the students are overweight or obese – national average is 35% and climbing
  • 20,000students in this district – if the district prevents 1 heart attack –savings over $100,000
What will be the cost be if we continue to neglect physical education programs. What will it cost by 2015 when 50% of students are either overweight or obese? We already know 33% of children will develop on set diabetes. We all know obesity and diabetes are also related to many other health problems.
There have been very few studies predicating American Health Care cost when this generation become adults. It was only an estimate, but one study recently predicted, the “childhood obesity” generation – sometimes known as the gamer generation will cost insurance company about $200,000 per person during there 35 year career in the work force.
Should we invest 5 cents a day in prevention, or $200,000 in treatment?
 

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"Exergaming"

Posted At : December 8, 2007 4:52 PM | Posted By : Admin
Related Categories: PE in the news

Exergaming in the News
 
Some of you may not have even heard the term “exergaming”. This is a new term that describes new technology that combines video games and exercise. This is another method of attacking the childhood obesity crisis.
 
Finally the” baby boomer generation” is starting to understand the “gamer generation”. The average child in the US now spends over 5 hours a day on screen time (video games, TV, and computer). It is time we take advantage of this time being spent on screen time, and include some exercise at the same time.
 
The concept of exergaming is new, but is appears to be working. Every indication is the exergaming industry is about to explode. Just this year both Business Week and Time Magazine covered articles on “exergaming”
 
This week, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, committed over $10 million dollars to do research focusing on how exergaming can improve children’s health.
 
Most of you are aware of the game Dance Dance Revolution better known as DDR, was the leader in the exergaming world, but now there are at least 15 companies are into the gaming industry, include popular home games wii and xavix.
 
The exciting thing about the new “exergames”, not only to students love them, we are finding many of these games can be used to stimulate the brain for learning.
 
I have spent the last week talking to most of the exergaming companies around the country. There are many exciting “exergames” available today, but talking to the experts, you would not believe some of the new “exergames” in the planning stages.
 
We are going to see major advances in “exergaming” choices in the next couple years.
When the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation finishes their research, and some of the new products become available, these tools will have a positive impact on the health of children
 

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Mr Woodcock - movie destroys PE image

Posted At : September 22, 2007 9:49 AM | Posted By : Admin
Related Categories: PE in the news

I am not endorsing the movie Mr Woodcock, but we need to prepare ourselves for the potential negative impact of this movie. Please go to the NASPE website to find their position paper that gives us a chance to defend the NEW PE. (PE4life)

Don’t take my next comment wrong, but in some ways this movie is a wake up call to every physical education teacher in the country. This movie sounds like it represents the truth. I know they're using comedy to get their message across, but there is a large percentage of the baby boomers that have lifetime memories of their PE experience which is just like the one portrayed in this movie. It is sad the number of leadership people in this country that carry this same image of PE into their decision making. The other sad story, there are a few PE programs in our country today that are still delivered this way. Trust me, it might not be happening in any school in your community, but there are some really sad PE programs being delivered to children all over the United States. Just another reminder, our advocacy work has just begun. Is anyone going to attend the movie?

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Shaq's Finale

Posted At : August 1, 2007 10:16 AM | Posted By : Admin
Related Categories: PE in the news

I don’t know if anyone else watched the final episode of the Shaq show. I was very critical of the first 4 episodes; good news, the final show hit a home run. It was a summary of all the success of Shaq’s efforts. The first measure of success was the amount of weight loss of students. The students were also very successful in Fitness score improvement (Presidential test). Over all fitness scores of the entire school improved. The lunch room program made major changes. The after school fitness program was very successful (large participation).

The final step was taking the Shaq success story to the governor. The governor’s speech was inspiring. One powerful statement he made “Florida should have PE everyday for every grade. The governor said he would like to take the Shaq program and spread it through out Florida and then the nation. The governor’s speech was good but the personal testimonies of the kids was moving and very emotional.

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