Climbing wall installed during spring break
As the Physical Education Program (PEP) grant comes to a close, the exciting opportunity of a brand new climbing wall has brought much excitement among the student body. The wall will present itself after spring break, and will bring new opportunities and relationship skills to the physical education program.
Stillwater Area High School was awarded the PEP grant three years ago, by the U.S. Department of Education. The PEP grant is to expand physical education programs, including after school programs for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
One of the cool features of this grant is that there will be a climbing wall added to the synthetic gym. The main goal of the PEP grant is to focus on lifetime fitness.
“Besides getting new equipment from the grant. Another thing that it does it forces us to focus on our level of instruction. We have a consultant that is here from Washington D.C. all week this week watching and observing our PE classes and giving us feedback on things we can do to potentially better the quality of PE instructor in our distant,” Principal Rob Bach said.
The climbing wall will be added to the synthetic gym over spring break. It should be ready to climb on once the teachers learn how to use it. A climbing wall is a very unique way for students to get their physical fitness in. It will also built trust and relationship skills by having the students help hold one another up.
Related Stories
New school board members elected this term
District 834 expands high school for freshmen
Proposal brings forth bold new ideas
“The rock will help build strength, power and bring aerobic and anaerobic fitness to higher levels,” junior Kaylie Goltz said.
The money provided by the PEP grant has not only included getting a climbing wall installed, but also better equipment.
“I think there has been equipment too. I think some of that has been purchased before I got here. The heart rate monitors that all of our students wear, the software that it takes to run it all of those things are examples of what has been purchased,” Bach said.
Part of the PEP grant is to promote healthy lifestyle. One way Stillwater has promoted healthy living is by cutting junk food out of their vending machines and by what they sell during the school year. This year they got rid of selling donuts during BLAST week.
“The school has all kinds of posters, we talk about that also through health. Health is a course that is required course, so we talk about healthy lifestyle in that course and that is something that every student gets exposed to,” Bach said.
“The PEP grant is actually more of a district function then it is specific to the high school. So the junior highs benefit from that as well as some of the elementaries too. Again it does it provides money which the district can use for to fund all kinds of different enterprises,” said Bach.
Madison Crain is a junior at Stillwater Area High School. Madison is the layout editor for the Pony Express Newspaper. Madison is also involved in Key...
Sam Begin • Mar 30, 2016 at 7:24 pm
I’m glad that you managed to take a controversial topic and present a very balanced, objective view of the issue. I also the fact that this article contains very informative and relevant quotes. Great job!
Craig Sanislo • Mar 30, 2016 at 12:53 pm
This article was very informative. Before reading, I had no idea that the school was installing a climbing wall. I liked the quotes from Rob Bach because he explained where the money came from and how the school got it.
Dylan Andres • Mar 30, 2016 at 9:08 am
I like how you talked about the PEP grant as well as the installation of the climbing wall. I think you should have interviewed a Phy. Ed. teacher, for they are the ones who will be supervising it. Overall, it was an extremely well written article that explained how the school got the climbing wall.
Joe Rice • Mar 30, 2016 at 8:27 am
Good article, you did a nice job of keeping this article pretty neutral even though the PEP grant has been a pretty controversial topic. I am glad you threw in the fact about the donuts!
Laura Ilkka • Mar 30, 2016 at 12:00 am
Good job on the article! I thought it was interesting because I had no idea that this was going to be happening, I’m sure many students didn’t as well. The interview with Mr. Bach was well conducted but it would’ve been nice to hear more thoughts and opinions from students.
Erin Lemanski • Mar 29, 2016 at 10:52 pm
Great job with this article! It was very to the point, and I got a lot of information out of it. I like how you interviewed Mr. Bach, however, it would have been nice to see more quotes from others. Nice article!
Noah Jakupciak • Mar 29, 2016 at 9:35 pm
The pictures were good that showed where the wall would be. Also I liked how you went into detail about the grants and how and why the wall is going up.
Zach Toohey • Mar 29, 2016 at 9:26 pm
Great job on getting the point across in a limited amount of words. I Thought the interview with Principle Bach was needed and really added to the angle you took on the article. Overall I think this was well written and contained great quotes.
Cole Lebourgeois • Mar 29, 2016 at 5:38 pm
I liked the article and it was very factual about the PEP grant and about the rock climbing wall. But I would have like to see at least one or two more quotes that were not just from Mr. Bach. Other than that I really liked the article.
Daniel Onufer • Mar 29, 2016 at 8:25 am
Nice article. Short, sweet, and to the point. Can’t wait to climb it next year.