Step One Stretches Grant Dollars
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Step One Stretches Grant Dollars
By David [email protected]
“We developed a philosophy – Complete Self Improvement. Mind, body and soul,” said teacher Jeanne McCormack. “... CSI also is about self discovery and finding the incredible person a student is meant to be.”
Two ways the AT&T grant money has been used this past year for Step One students’ CSI was through the creation of a Fitness Club and the purchase of five Kindles.
“I’m very proud of the students who took part in Fitness Club,” said paraprofessional Donata Grimm. “Time is a special commodity especially with students. To sacrifice that time after school and not treat it as a sacrifice was impressive.”
Sophomore Haley Hutchison wasn’t really into the Fitness Club at first. But then McCormack started talking about how the mind, body and soul are one, so Hutchison started going.
Not only did she lose 7 pounds, but she also started feeling good and her whole attitude changed. She found it to not only be a good stress reliever, but it also kept her out of trouble.
The Club works out in the high school weight room after school.
“I feel healthier,” Hutchison said. “I was always tired, lazy. Now I don’t just want to sit around. I want to be out and about.”
She said everyone who works out in the Club gets along and there’s no troubles. On Tuesdays, they eat healthy snacks together.
McCormack said the students think the snacks are just to eat, but they are really to get the students to interact and talk after school. The students in the Club are there because they want to be.
Step One is a program at the high school for students at risk of not reaching their full potential. The program works to help the students achieve what they are capable of achieving.
Sophomore Shane Smalley has been involved in the Fitness Club since February and goes every Tuesday and Thursday. Rarely does he miss a day to work out.
“I enjoy it. You have to be motivated,” Smalley said.
Besides the Club two days a week, he also does weight training Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, spending a lot of time in the high school weight room.
“It’s a great weight room. That’s what I love about it,” he said.
Smalley said exercising makes him feel better about himself.
“It’s a confidence booster for me,” he said.
David Bailey, also a Step One teacher, guides the Fitness Club. Smalley said Bailey is real good about showing him some work outs.
Having always enjoyed working out, Bailey said the exercise is just a part of working on the students’ minds, bodies and souls. He said they show them stuff students can do at home or in a dorm so they can keep working out without an expensive membership to a gym.
Bailey started the program in his classroom last year, and opened it up to Step One this year.
“They’ve taken it further with shirts and shorts. It’s the whole idea of improving academically by completing the whole package,” Bailey said.
He said he was proud of these kids who really are dedicating their time to it, some who never miss a session.
“Some kids have a chip on their shoulder. This helps them work it out,” Bailey said.
Freshman Austin Miotto is using the Club to get in shape for 5K runs and a possible marathon.
“It’s awesome. Just how we do everything in a group and have a snack afterward. We get to know each other,” Miotto said.
“Ever since I’ve been doing it, I’ve been getting closer with McCormack and Grimm and my grades have gone up. It’s better than sitting around,” he said.
Sometimes things happen in school, and Miotto is able to take it out in running. Last Friday, he said, something negative happened and he was able to run it off in the “Stars & Stripes” 5K in Milford Saturday. He beat his time by 4 minutes.
Senior Kearston Ogden is using the workouts to help her go into the Air Force.
“This summer I plan to finish working out and lose weight for the military,” Ogden said.
She wants to go into the military to go to school and be a registered nurse or OBGYN.
Already having lost 20 pounds through the Fitness Club, she said she needs to lose 10 more pounds.
“I started this because one of my friends introduced me to McCormack when I was struggling with my grades. I started struggling when my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. It took a toll on me. We found out she was Stage 4 in September,” Ogden said.
She is able to work her stress and anger out through exercise.
“Fitness Club builds your strength, your courage, your ability to be around people,” Ogden said. “To get that maturity level you didn’t have. Not only your physical being, but also your courage. It may be tough, but you got to stay with it. It’s not a program where you can slack. You’ve got to push yourself. It’s made me push myself to lose the weight for the military.”
Grimm said one of the highlights of the Club was having Brian Poe of Poe Performance come in to do a free personal training session with the students. He taught the students things they can do at home and in the summer that won’t cost them money to exercise and that can bring changes to their bodies.
“I’m just very thankful for the Step One team that had this vision and want kids to refocus and release pressure. I’m proud of them,” said Grimm.
The Kindles will be used to help promote a love for literacy, according to teacher Amanda Scroggs.
“We would love to have funding to purchase books for these Kindles,” she said.
She said they hope to use the Kindles for Free Reading Fridays, which is a reward for students with all their class work done and that helps students connect with literacy of their choice. The goal, she said, is to make reading a lifelong habit. Kindles will help students access books not available in the school media center or public library. Plus, the technology is more attractive to the teen students.
The Kindles will stay in the classroom. The number of books students will be able to access could be endless. However, while some books are free, others are 99 cents or $19.95 depending on how new they are. Once a book is on a Kindle, it can be shared so there’s value in that, Scroggs said.
“We would love to get Amazon cards to allow our students, as an incentive or award, to choose a book to be uploaded,” Scroggs said. “But we need Amazon cards to do that.”
She said she may begin this summer to work with students on the Kindles, and to see, as a teacher, what works and what doesn’t.
“We really appreciate AT&T who made it possible for our students to have it in their hands,” Scroggs said.
Money left over from the AT&T grant will be used as seed money, McCormack said.
This summer, they hope to plant a garden.
Students will be taught on how to spend food stamps wisely and how to cook healthy with money bought from food stamps. A cook book also will be made.
McCormack said, next year, to help improve students’ lives, they will work with industrial technology on basic home maintenance and students will be taught canning. Step One students will travel somewhere to work on someone’s house as a community service.
“Thanks to AT&T, we were able to treat our juniors for exceptional academic achievement and our high honors students,” said McCormack.
This year, Step One had its first National Honor Society member in Tarryn Trombley. McCormack said they were able to recognize her thanks to the AT&T money.[[In-content Ad]]
“We developed a philosophy – Complete Self Improvement. Mind, body and soul,” said teacher Jeanne McCormack. “... CSI also is about self discovery and finding the incredible person a student is meant to be.”
Two ways the AT&T grant money has been used this past year for Step One students’ CSI was through the creation of a Fitness Club and the purchase of five Kindles.
“I’m very proud of the students who took part in Fitness Club,” said paraprofessional Donata Grimm. “Time is a special commodity especially with students. To sacrifice that time after school and not treat it as a sacrifice was impressive.”
Sophomore Haley Hutchison wasn’t really into the Fitness Club at first. But then McCormack started talking about how the mind, body and soul are one, so Hutchison started going.
Not only did she lose 7 pounds, but she also started feeling good and her whole attitude changed. She found it to not only be a good stress reliever, but it also kept her out of trouble.
The Club works out in the high school weight room after school.
“I feel healthier,” Hutchison said. “I was always tired, lazy. Now I don’t just want to sit around. I want to be out and about.”
She said everyone who works out in the Club gets along and there’s no troubles. On Tuesdays, they eat healthy snacks together.
McCormack said the students think the snacks are just to eat, but they are really to get the students to interact and talk after school. The students in the Club are there because they want to be.
Step One is a program at the high school for students at risk of not reaching their full potential. The program works to help the students achieve what they are capable of achieving.
Sophomore Shane Smalley has been involved in the Fitness Club since February and goes every Tuesday and Thursday. Rarely does he miss a day to work out.
“I enjoy it. You have to be motivated,” Smalley said.
Besides the Club two days a week, he also does weight training Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, spending a lot of time in the high school weight room.
“It’s a great weight room. That’s what I love about it,” he said.
Smalley said exercising makes him feel better about himself.
“It’s a confidence booster for me,” he said.
David Bailey, also a Step One teacher, guides the Fitness Club. Smalley said Bailey is real good about showing him some work outs.
Having always enjoyed working out, Bailey said the exercise is just a part of working on the students’ minds, bodies and souls. He said they show them stuff students can do at home or in a dorm so they can keep working out without an expensive membership to a gym.
Bailey started the program in his classroom last year, and opened it up to Step One this year.
“They’ve taken it further with shirts and shorts. It’s the whole idea of improving academically by completing the whole package,” Bailey said.
He said he was proud of these kids who really are dedicating their time to it, some who never miss a session.
“Some kids have a chip on their shoulder. This helps them work it out,” Bailey said.
Freshman Austin Miotto is using the Club to get in shape for 5K runs and a possible marathon.
“It’s awesome. Just how we do everything in a group and have a snack afterward. We get to know each other,” Miotto said.
“Ever since I’ve been doing it, I’ve been getting closer with McCormack and Grimm and my grades have gone up. It’s better than sitting around,” he said.
Sometimes things happen in school, and Miotto is able to take it out in running. Last Friday, he said, something negative happened and he was able to run it off in the “Stars & Stripes” 5K in Milford Saturday. He beat his time by 4 minutes.
Senior Kearston Ogden is using the workouts to help her go into the Air Force.
“This summer I plan to finish working out and lose weight for the military,” Ogden said.
She wants to go into the military to go to school and be a registered nurse or OBGYN.
Already having lost 20 pounds through the Fitness Club, she said she needs to lose 10 more pounds.
“I started this because one of my friends introduced me to McCormack when I was struggling with my grades. I started struggling when my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. It took a toll on me. We found out she was Stage 4 in September,” Ogden said.
She is able to work her stress and anger out through exercise.
“Fitness Club builds your strength, your courage, your ability to be around people,” Ogden said. “To get that maturity level you didn’t have. Not only your physical being, but also your courage. It may be tough, but you got to stay with it. It’s not a program where you can slack. You’ve got to push yourself. It’s made me push myself to lose the weight for the military.”
Grimm said one of the highlights of the Club was having Brian Poe of Poe Performance come in to do a free personal training session with the students. He taught the students things they can do at home and in the summer that won’t cost them money to exercise and that can bring changes to their bodies.
“I’m just very thankful for the Step One team that had this vision and want kids to refocus and release pressure. I’m proud of them,” said Grimm.
The Kindles will be used to help promote a love for literacy, according to teacher Amanda Scroggs.
“We would love to have funding to purchase books for these Kindles,” she said.
She said they hope to use the Kindles for Free Reading Fridays, which is a reward for students with all their class work done and that helps students connect with literacy of their choice. The goal, she said, is to make reading a lifelong habit. Kindles will help students access books not available in the school media center or public library. Plus, the technology is more attractive to the teen students.
The Kindles will stay in the classroom. The number of books students will be able to access could be endless. However, while some books are free, others are 99 cents or $19.95 depending on how new they are. Once a book is on a Kindle, it can be shared so there’s value in that, Scroggs said.
“We would love to get Amazon cards to allow our students, as an incentive or award, to choose a book to be uploaded,” Scroggs said. “But we need Amazon cards to do that.”
She said she may begin this summer to work with students on the Kindles, and to see, as a teacher, what works and what doesn’t.
“We really appreciate AT&T who made it possible for our students to have it in their hands,” Scroggs said.
Money left over from the AT&T grant will be used as seed money, McCormack said.
This summer, they hope to plant a garden.
Students will be taught on how to spend food stamps wisely and how to cook healthy with money bought from food stamps. A cook book also will be made.
McCormack said, next year, to help improve students’ lives, they will work with industrial technology on basic home maintenance and students will be taught canning. Step One students will travel somewhere to work on someone’s house as a community service.
“Thanks to AT&T, we were able to treat our juniors for exceptional academic achievement and our high honors students,” said McCormack.
This year, Step One had its first National Honor Society member in Tarryn Trombley. McCormack said they were able to recognize her thanks to the AT&T money.[[In-content Ad]]
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