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Some local elementary teachers are staying fit this spring thanks in part to a University of Idaho graduate student who is giving them exercise classes and a convenient place to workout.
Kristin Harwood, a graduate student in recreation at UI, created a wellness program to help West Park Elementary School teachers stay physically active. She is pursuing her master’s in leadership in physical activity and recreation and the program is one project she decided to work on.
Harwood’s program includes spinning and gravity classes at the Student Recreation Center and yoga.
“(I) wanted to pick classes they might be intimidated by if they weren’t in a group,” Hartwood said.
Regional and national corporations have similar programs similar, Harwood said, which are incorporated in their companies. They may have a workout facility or trainers on site. Harwood thought the idea would also work well in a school setting.
“It makes a lot of sense to hit the schools and treat (them) in the same way,” Harwood said.
Harwood started the program in the beginning of March and attendance has been about 10 people per class. The elementary school’s staff is only about 25 people and 20 of them showed interest in the program.
“Since day one they have been really excited,” Harwood said. “They had already started working together with walking groups, so they were surprisingly gung ho about it.”
Harwood worked with Peg Hamlett, UI’s Campus Recreation fitness manager, to offer the teachers suitable classes.
They now offer spinning and gravity classes at 3:50 p.m., Harwood said.
West Park has an after-school walking club for teachers, but Harwood’s program offers the school’s personnel cardiovascular training with the spinning classes as well as an opportunity to built a muscular strength with the gravity classes.
“It takes all pressure and stresses off (the body),” Harwood said. “It’s light on joints, great for all age groups.”
Harwood has also incorporated a competition among the teachers.
She provided them with nutrition and exercise tracking sheets. She created a point system, where each participant earns points depending on activity and food intake throughout the week.
Teachers in each grade can record their daily food intake and activity classes they attend. They receive more points for attending more wellness classes at the SRC.
“The whole idea is to try new classes, a goal to push (them) out of their comfort zone,” Harwood said.
Harwood has been a personal trainer for more than two years and has been a group fitness instructor at the SRC since last summer. Her tenure at UI as well as with the wellness program for teachers is over at the end of the school year, but she is finding a way to make it more sustainable after she leaves.
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