Project Fit's a big hit at elementary school
View original at paducahsun.com
BY GENEVIEVE POSTLETHWAIT gpostlethwait@paducahsun.com
Few ribbon cuttings generate as much excitement as the one Friday for Hendron-Lone Oak Elementary's new Project Fit program.
The moment the giant scissors made their appearance, the 400-plus kids gathered in the gym gasped in excitement and began chanting, "Cut it! Cut it!"
When the ribbon fell, cheers and screams erupted.
Hendron-Lone Oak is the latest of 12 local schools across the region awarded Project Fit America grants over the past nine years, all sponsored by Baptist Health Paducah, to fund indoor and outdoor fitness equipment, curriculum materials and teacher training.
The opening day celebration for the playground was moved indoors Friday due to weather, but the kids' spirits were far from dampened. On cue, they shouted their thank yous to Baptist Health with all their might and cheered on classmates and some brave community leaders in hula-hoop competitions.
"This is what's really neat about Project Fit, this just looks like old-fashioned fun -- hula-hoops, they've been around a long time, but there's a science behind it," said Principal Jon Reid.
He, Superintendent Quin Sutton, McCracken County Board of Education member Dr. Don Heine and Chamber of Commerce President Sandra Wilson had just finished battling each other in hula-hooping. Heine kept his hoop hula-ing the longest.
"As you'll find out when you have your hula-hoop lesson in P.E. class, there's a lot more to it," Reid told his students. "This is just such a great program. To receive this equipment is such a great blessing. Thank you again to our special guests, especially Baptist Health, for your generosity. You can see how happy you've made 410 students."
The $16,000 grant from Baptist allowed Hendron-Lone Oak Elementary to join nearly 900 schools across the country that have become part of the Project Fit America family.
Project Fit playgrounds like the one just built at Hendron-Lone Oak are designed to address areas where children often fail fitness tests. The playgrounds are accompanied by a curriculum full of games, activities and challenges aimed at getting kids excited about health and fitness.
Paducah's McNabb Elementary and Graves County's Central Elementary were awarded the program in 2007; Lone Oak Elementary, 2009; Concord Elementary, 2011; Clark Elementary, 2012; Benton Elementary, 2013; Calvert City Elementary and East Calloway Elementary, 2014; Morgan Elementary, Heath Elementary and Reidland Intermediate, 2015.
"It's made P.E. so much more fun, and we still use it all the time," said Shawn McDermott, P.E. teacher at McNabb Elementary, which is approaching its 10th year with the Project Fit equipment and curriculum. "It's actually added a lot to the neighborhood as well," he said. "We didn't have much of a playground before for our kids. Now we do, and families can come and use it even during the summers."
Many of the Project Fit lesson plans have become mainstays at McNabb. "$10 in a Bone" is one of McDermott's favorites.
Students have to complete different exercises on the playground to get play-money that they then turn into a banker (McDermott) in exchange for fake bones. They exercise and play until they've built the entire skeletal system, bone by $10-bone.
"The hope for the program was to get kids more active and excited about fitness," McDermott said. "It worked. The kids, they really enjoy it."