WARREN Notre Dame receives grant, improves fitness program

Notre Dame in Warren was the only Catholic school in the country to get the grant.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Adam Crosby, 13, and Tommy Sevastos, 12, were winded and sweating after several minutes on the exercise bicycles connected to a Playstation 2.
The two sixth-graders watched a computer image of a motorcyclist travel over varied terrain as they pedaled, clocking their time, heart rate and distance.
Both gave the new equipment high marks.
"It gives us more physical activity to do," Adam said.
Tommy said he enjoys gym class more now because of the variety of activities.
All thanks go to an $89,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education that enables gym teachers and administrators at Notre Dame School to change the emphasis of gym classes from competition to individual fitness.
The Warren school was the only Catholic school in the country to receive the Carol M. White Physical Education Program grant.
Notre Dame is one school with about 600 pupils on four campuses broken into different grades.
"We went on faith," said Christine Brugler, grant writer, of the school's application filed last spring.
"Because we're a Catholic school, we didn't even know if we'd be eligible. We called the U.S. Department of Education and they told us, 'It's not up to us to tell you if you're eligible. You show us how you are eligible.'"
Brugler, school director Sister Judith Anne Sabau, and physical education teachers Pat Crosby and Bob Gardner developed the program they call Health Students and Families to incorporate instruction in a healthy lifestyle across the curriculum.
Last November, first-grade teachers talked about what the pilgrims ate on the first Thanksgiving and what was and wasn't healthy.
The school learned last September that it had received the grant and pitched in about $15,000 of its own funds to help buy new equipment, including a climbing wall, balls, jump ropes, hula hoops, heart rate monitors, pedometers, exercise bicycles, two computerized fitness testers and two bikes connected to a Sony Playstation 2 game.
"It's more fitness-focused in gym classes instead of focused on group sports," Brugler said.
Gardner measures the students fitness level and abilities using a TrimFit machine. That information is stored in the computer.
"In addition to a student's academic record, we have a fitness record as well," Brugler said.
"It gets kids to exercise without really realizing that it's exercise," Brugler said.
Gardner hopes it encourages pupils to incorporate fitness into their lives outside of school and as they grow older.
Sister Sabau said she, along with a parent who is a nutritionist, the cafeteria manager and the school's purchasing agent worked together to make lunches more healthy as part of the fitness program.
A salad bar is available daily and although pupils initially complained of missing their regular pizza lunches, chef's salad has become a new favorite, Sister Sabau said.
Gardner likes that the information compiled and provided by the computer fitness equipment is objective.
"It gives us a lot more credibility and a lot of evidence with what we're trying to accomplish," he said.