P.E. programs earn accolades

Miller, Webb schools among several in the valley to be designated by President's Council

JACOB KEPLER/VIEWAndamo Hondo makes his way down the field while playing Guard the Treasure at Miller Middle School, 2400 Cozy Hill Circle. Miller and Webb middle schools were designated as President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports Demonstration Centers. Advertisement

Earlier this year, Miller and Webb middle schools were designated as President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports Demonstration Centers, along with six other schools in the valley. The programs were selected based on criteria, and the designations were made by Partners for a Healthy Nevada, an obesity prevention coalition founded by the Southern Nevada Health District.

"It's very important that P.E. programs include physical activity," said Anne Lindsay, state coordinator for the President's Council. "You don't have to be an athlete to be physically active."

To be selected as a demonstration center, the schools had to have eight criteria based on Nevada state and national standards.

"The teachers are doing a phenomenal job," Lindsay said.

The criteria included promoting lifelong fitness and physical activity, maximizing participation and time in class, teaching a variety of fitness options, having pre- and post-fitness testing, and teaching students what they're learning and why.

"It means a lot for our school, for our community," said Clay Carpenter, P.E. teacher at Miller.

Miller's P.E. program is skill-based, and students are expected to work on techniques specific to the activity they are practicing in class. For example, if students are playing basketball, they might work on jump shots and defensive moves.

Every Monday, students at Miller, 2400 Cozy Hill Drive, are required to focus on cardio, and they work on maintaining their target heart rate.

"In middle school, you're trying to bring in a little more competition," Carpenter said. "We try to have them master the skills."

At Webb, 2200 Reunion Drive, P.E. teacher Kirk Grimm said one of his goals is to get his students interested in joining a sports league, because in junior high, sixth- and eighth-graders receive only one semester of P.E. classes. In seventh grade, they may receive none, as it is an elective course.

"We try to incorporate physical activity within games," he said.

In addition to more traditional P.E. sports such as baseball and soccer, Webb students have rodeo-related classes where they practice roping skills.

"It's eye-hand coordination," Grimm said.

The P.E. teacher said he and his fellow instructors make decisions as a department, so boys and girls are doing similar activities throughout the year.

"We have a lot of equipment, and for that we're able to put equipment in kids' hands and not have them waiting in line," Grimm said.

In each class at Webb, students are expected to complete a warmup, which is followed by a set of conditioning exercises that are related to that week's activity. The exercises are followed by working on the activity itself.

"They learn to work together," Grimm said. "We're actually teaching them life skills here."

P.E. classes at both schools received pedometers as a result of being named a President's Council demonstration center.