City : Getting a lift: West Genesee School District received grant for weight room, equipment
The West Genesee School District was awarded more than half a million dollars from the U.S. Department of Education to improve its physical education department.
The district will receive $508,173 from the Carol M. White Physical Education Program to implement its original plan ‘Healthy Bodies at Our Best = P.E. Success.’
The driving force behind the award is Janine Corning, a physical education teacher at West Genesee Middle School. Corning has applied for the federal grant money every year since 2008.
Though denied each time, she continued to research ways to improve her ‘amateur’ writing proposal and began working with a professional grant writing company, Insight Grants, she said.
Her persistence paid off. West Genesee is one of 10 school districts in New York to receive the grant and the only Central New York recipient.
‘Instead of just talking about health problems, we’re hoping that we will start doing something about it,’ Corning said. ‘This is an avenue to start making some changes.’
West Genesee’s plan focuses on lifelong fitness through physical and nutritional components, said Michael Burns, West Genesee director of athletics.
The grant money covers new weight room equipment for the high school and two middle schools, including treadmills, spin bikes, dumb bells, weight benches and pull-up bars, Burns said. He said he hopes the new equipment will be more inviting for the students.
‘Older fitness rooms can be intimidating,’ Burns said. ‘We want to teach students how to use the fresh new machines and get a lot of people excited and interested in increasing their fitness.’
The grant will also help pay for more recreational equipment, such as rock climbing walls, to introduce adventure programming and high element activities for the elementary and high school, Corning said.
There will be educational nutritional programs for all students, Corning said. Health classes and home and career classes will continue to be part of the district’s curriculum, along with district-wide presentation on nutrition. The plan will work with the food services to offer new fruits and healthy foods in the cafeterias, she said.
The grant will allow the district to provide technology for students to keep track of their health and diets. All 4,957 students in the district will be given a pedometer, Burns said, as well as access to heart rate monitors, fitness assessment software and applications that calculate body mass index.
‘Our No. 1 goal is that students will take control of their own fitness and wellness,’ said Brian Kesel, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. ‘We’re excited for the opportunities for all 5,000 of our students to benefit from this grant.’
Published on October 11, 2011 at 12:00 pm
