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Published October 18, 2005
Goodrell fitness program impresses pair of governors
Governors observe students' workout at school
By
CHRISTINA SMITH
REGISTER STAFF WRITER On a day when most Goodrell Middle School students were likely at home playing video games, watching TV and drinking soda pop, a group of seventh-graders was at the school to work up a sweat. During their workout, the students got a treat: They met two governors who visited to find out about the school's healthy choices class. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee visited the magnet school, 3300 E. 29th St., as part of Huckabee's Healthy America initiative, which seeks to raise national awareness of the need for children and adults to be more active. Seventh-grader Le Anna Herndon said she enjoyed showing the visiting governor what goes on in gym class — although most of her classmates were out of school on Thursday because of parent-teacher conferences. "Maybe (the visit) can change the PE program in that state," Le Anna, 12, said. "Maybe our program will become a national program, because they liked what they saw." For about 90 minutes, Vilsack and Huckabee, who is chairman of the National Governors Association, watched about 30 students climb a rock wall, toss a medicine ball, climb a cargo net, swing Indian clubs and turn upside down on an inversion table. John Walling, healthy choices instructor, explained to the governors that the program is not focused on competition, but on a holistic approach to health, which aims to help the students physically, mentally, emotionally, socially and spiritually. "We're not trying to make athletes," Walling said. The governors saw the newest addition to the school's program, Fitnessgram, which allows the students to track their activity and success by using a computer. As seventh-grader Collan Murray, 12, typed his fitness information into the Fitnessgram program, he told the governors he likes having the ability to track his progress at different skills. Huckabee was impressed with Murray's 6 minute, 13 second mile run. "It's better than regular fitness class," Murray said of healthy choices class offerings. "I'm more physically fit now. My grades are improving." The governors also watched students exercise to Dance, Dance Revolution, a game in which students perform dance moves on an electronic pad on the floor by watching a screen that prompts them on movements. Huckabee joked with Vilsack about trying the new dance machine. "It's a lot harder than it looks," Huckabee said. "I looked like a complete idiot on it." Vilsack passed on the chance to try out the machine. Huckabee said he has lost about 110 pounds in the past 2 1/2 years after adopting a healthier lifestyle at the urging of his physician. "My doctor told me I was entering the last decade of my life," he said, "and he showed me how it would be. I decided I didn't want to die that way." At the end of the month, Huckabee will run in the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C. As part of the Healthy America initiative, Huckabee is asking governors across the country to encourage schools to establish programs that help reduce obesity and encourage healthy lifestyles. He said the Goodrell program was one example of that. "This is really a cooperative team program," Huckabee said, "and it really should be a model across the country."
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