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Shaping Up As A Role Model

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By JAN HOLLINGSWORTH

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 21, 2008

PLANT CITY - A few steps from the gymnasium at Turkey Creek Middle School, six teachers plot to transform adolescent couch potatoes into fitness-minded thinkers.

Outside the small, chilly room where the brainstorming takes place, scores of kids gather at an outdoor patio to eat, socialize and get physical.

Some sit at umbrella-shaded tables, sipping water or Gatorade. Nearby, a boys' phys ed class bats several large rubber balls through the air, arms stretched skyward, bodies in motion.

The beverages are an alternative that Turkey Creek kids are encouraged to choose over the soft drinks that have found their way into the county's schools. The games also are meant to instill a healthy respect for the value of health and fitness.

"We've moved the Pepsi machines out of our area," said Tecca Kilmer, who has spent her 12-year career at this middle school. "As physical educators, we teach kids how to live."

These aren't just any physical educators.

Kilmer was honored last month by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education as the middle school PE Teacher of the Year for the Southern District - a 13-state area from Virginia to Texas.

Meanwhile, the department has been recognized since 2004 for running an exemplary program. Kilmer and the rest of Turkey Creek's phys ed team - department head Butch Valdes and teachers Marcy Beck, Kim Gerlich, Ira Shaw and Shane Rawlins - are responsible for making the school one of 28 in the nation to be designated a Stars school by the association.

Stars recognizes a school's total physical education program, said a spokeswoman for the association. Turkey Creek is one of the few middle schools to meet national guidelines set by the organization as well as the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"This whole department's special," Valdes said.

Kilmer is a driving force behind many of Turkey Creek's innovations, including Olympic Day, an annual event where students compete for gold, silver and bronze medals in seven events.

This year's Olympic Day, held on May 14, drew nearly a third of the school's 1,000-plus students. A dozen teachers - four from each grade level - also participated in a pentathlon that capped a day of track and field, archery and basketball.

The teachers' event, "the highlight" for student spectators, involved "goofy variations" of the javelin throw, shot put, discus and 100-yard dash, Beck said.

The hammer throw, for instance, involved hurling a foam noodle.

Olympic Day is among a growing repertoire of programs aimed at bringing health and fitness awareness to the school's faculty, students and their parents.

"We try to keep adding things," Valdes said. "She Kilmer keeps throwing ideas at us."

Stars is one of the programs Kilmer brought to the department's attention.

"We thought that would be a good way to assess our physical education program," Kilmer said. "It wouldn't have been possible to achieve without the whole department working together."

Kilmer has been getting physical for as long as she can remember.

"Growing up, I did gymnastics and dance, then track and cross country as I got older," she said.

Today, she is seeing things she never imagined when she was in school, or even in the early years of her teaching career.

"I'm seeing students in middle school pass away, and it's because of health-related conditions. There's more diabetes, more heart conditions," she said.

Poor eating habits, a sedentary lifestyle and other cultural factors seem to be at the root of what has been called an epidemic of obese and at-risk children.

The focus at Turkey Creek is making students aware of their lifestyle choices and - above all - to get them moving, and moving for life.

There is classroom work as well, where students learn about the food pyramid and learn how to track what they're eating, how to read labels and become aware, in general, of the link between nutrition and health.

The staff also looks for ways to make physical activity less of a chore.

A pilot archery programs is one recent innovation at Turkey Creek, where all six PE teachers have become certified archery instructors.

"That was Butch's brainchild," Kilmer said.

The program has been "amazingly popular," Valdes said. "Over 100 students have put in to join our archery club."

Andi Butts, 14, is captain of the school's archery team. She credits Turkey Creek's PE teachers with giving her the drive "to achieve better things."

"Failure is not an option here, and as long as you try, you don't fail," Butts said.

One of only 10 schools in the state to pilot an archery program, Turkey Creek and its staff have since helped two other schools obtain training and equipment.

The school's physical education department also works at educating the community about health and fitness. Annual health fairs and a monthly outreach program called FIT - Families Involved Together - bring parents on board.

"Once a month we invite families to learn what we're teaching their kids," Valdes said.

A bilingual newsletter also brings home to parents the department's message that nutrition and fitness matter - both in maintaining their child's physical health as well as enhancing academic achievement.

Turkey Creek's physical educators also offer parents an opportunity to monitor their own health. The school has a large migrant population that may not regularly seek health care, and health fairs allow them to have blood pressure, blood sugar and other tests taken at Turkey Creek.

"Walking into a school where their kids go, they feel a little more comfortable," Valdes said.

Physical education isn't an option for Turkey Creek students, who are required to spend 50 minutes each day in PE.

"They make it fun," said Breezy Calvillo, 14. "It's more than running and sweating. It's part of your life."

Calvillo, a member of the Junior Honor Society and student body president, was among 10 Turkey Creek students who participated in this year's Hoops for Heart competition at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. "They won our school department money to buy much-needed equipment," Kilmer said.

Butts, Marcus Mayo and twin brothers Luis and Julio Fernandez - all A and B students - also were part of the Hoops for Hearts team and regularly participate in extra-mural sports.

Getting physical has become woven into the fabric of each of their lives, they said.

"That's what we're trying to do here - change lifestyles," Valdes said.

FITNESS - OR LACK OF - FACTS

Obesity

•The percentage of overweight school-age children has tripled since 1980.

•About 10 percent of children 2 to 5 are overweight.

•Approximately 60 percent of obese children 5 to 10 have at least one cardiovascular disease risk factor, and 25 percent have two or more.

•Children who are overweight by age 8 are 80 percent more likely to become obese adults.

Physical Activity

•More than a third of students in grades nine to 12 do not regularly engage in vigorous physical activity.

•Participation in physical activity declines as children get older.

•Among high school students, males are more physically active than females and white students are more active than black and Hispanic students.

Public Support For PE

•Ninety-five percent of parents nationwide said that physical education should be included in the school curriculum for all students, kindergarten through 12th grade.

•Eighty-five percent of parents and 81 percent of teachers believe students should be required to take PE daily in every grade.

•More than 75 percent of parents and teachers believe that school boards should not eliminate PE for budgetary reasons or because of the need to meet stricter academic standards.

Source: National Association for Sport and Physical Education

Reporter Jan Hollingsworth can be reached at (813) 865-4436 or jhollingsworth@tampatrib.com.

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