Measuring up to kid's fitness tests
By Jami Kunzer
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jkunzer@shawsuburban.com
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| Amanda Schwengel, photographer and videographer for Shaw Suburban Media, tries a push-up as students from Greenwood Elementary School in Woodstock look on. Schwengel attempted all the Presidential Physical Fitness Award tests required of fifth-graders. (Photo by Danielle Guerra) |
How many sit-ups can you do in a minute?
How about a pull-up? Can you do one?
Well, Derek Hartmann did five. Sounds pretty good for an 11-year-old, right?
But at his age, Derek needs to eek out just one more pull-up to even be considered for a Presidential Physical Fitness Award.
Winning that award is tougher than you might think.
And apparently, it’s becoming even tougher for today’s kids, some of whom aren’t overly thrilled to partake.
Nope, not all kids think like Hartmann, who says, “Gym is an important thing. I think that you need fitness to stay healthy.”
A couple groans could be heard as he and his classmates at Greenwood Elementary School in Woodstock took the one-mile run test on a recent brisk morning.
“I feel like I’m going to die,” a student joked as she laps the school’s outdoor field.
“You’re not going to die,” answered Audrey Perk, the school’s physical education teacher.
Perk tests the fifth-graders in five areas: sit-ups, pull-ups, a sit and reach, a shuttle run and the one-mile run. Perhaps you remember similar tests from your grade-school days.
Out of all her students last year, Perk remembers only one actually obtaining the Presidential Award.
Students must achieve at least the 85th percentile in all five areas to win. For instance, a 10-year-old boy would need to run one mile within 7 minutes and 57 seconds, a 10-year-old girl within 9 minutes, 19 seconds.
“I have a wide range of abilities in every single class,” Perk says. “I’ll have kids who do super and those who really don’t care.”
The tests are part of The President’s Challenge (www.presidentschallenge.org), a nationwide program dating back to 1956 that most schools still follow.
Schools aren’t mandated to take part in the program, according to Mary Fergus, spokeswoman for the Illinois State Board of Education, but are required to follow certain physical education standards.
“It’s up to each individual district to come up with appropriate assessments,” Fergus says. “We don’t tell them how to do their tests.”
The schools can modify the program how they see fit, with Perk opting to test kids on the pull-ups as opposed to right-angle push-ups.
“What is a correct push-up? It just becomes time-consuming,” Perk says. “For me to do the pull-up test, either they can do it or they can’t. Is it the best test? No. But it’s definitive.”
Many can reach the presidential level in at least one area, some even achieving that mark in four of the events.
But all it takes is one event to knock them out of the running, Perk says.
If they achieve at least the 50th percentile in all five areas, they win the National Physical Fitness Award. That’d require, for instance, two pull-ups for an 11-year-old boy.
The standards haven’t changed much over the years, Perk says, but the kids are changing and fewer are obtaining the awards.
“We have always tested the kids,” Perk says. “A couple years ago, people were saying, ‘Is this really worth our time to test these kids?’... now it’s maybe we do need to test kids with at least 30 percent overweight or obese.”
Perk attributes the poorer health and in turn, scores to a decline in activity among today’s students.
They’re spending more time in doors on computers and playing video games, she says. Perk also doesn’t see the students as much as she’d like to, getting them for gym class only twice a week for 30 minutes at a time.
“It’s definitely not enough time to make a huge difference,” she says.
The school follows a Coordinated Approach to Child Health or the CATCH program, in which teachers in all areas and the community work together to promote physical activity and healthy food choices. So on days when Perk doesn’t work with the students, their classroom teachers and those running after-school activities are encouraged to do so.
The goal is to do so in ways that are fun, so that the children don’t even realize they’re exercising, says Sandra Theriault, curriculum area specialist for physical education and health at Woodstock District 200.
The district incorporates activities, such as golf, fishing, dance and aqua fitness into its physical education. That way, they can work their muscles without even knowing it. And hopefully, they’ll end up doing better on the tests in the long-run, Theriault says.
“For a lot of kids, it’s trauma,” she says of the tests. “That’s why we’ve gone to more lifestyle so you’re not getting kids competing. It’s more, ‘What keeps you moving?’”
Because, as 10-year-old Landis Delgado of Woodstock puts it, “exercise” and “diet” are not necessarily priorities.
“We’re kids and we don’t really need to watch our weight or anything,” she says.
Watch more on Amanda's performance at: http://www.mchenrycountymagazine.com/multimedia/?id=76
Nearly as fit as a fifth-grader
She’s definitely as fit as a fifth-grader.
Videographer Amanda Schwengel (shown in the blue shirt competing in the tests) came within a pull-up’s reach of earning a Presidential Physical Fitness Award. Well, at the fifth-grade level, anyway.
Schwengel took on all five of the tests that the fifth-graders at Greenwood Elementary School in Woodstock must do as part of the President’s Challenge. You can view her performance and get an overall idea of what the tests are like in a video at www.mchenrycountymagazine.com.
The students must run one mile, do as many sit-ups as possible in one minute, sit and reach, do a shuttle run and of course, at least attempt a pull-up.
In order to earn the award, they must reach at last the 85th percentile in all five events. That means at least three pull-ups for a 10-year-old girl.
“It was challenging,” says 26-year-old Schwengel, who remembers doing those same tests as a fifth-grader. “I could see how most kids could do three out of five or four out of five, but to get all five was quite challenging.”
Schwengel, who runs regularly and enjoys staying active, reached the presidential level in four of the events, quite similar to her scores as a fifth-grader, she says. Back then, she couldn’t do a pull-up either.
Physical education teacher Audrey Perk tries to keep gym class as fun as possible, and the enthusiasm was apparent, even when the students were asked to run a mile.
“I thought it was funny how everyone bolts out and then they get tired after a quarter mile,” Schwengel says. “I remember I would always get nervous before the mile... A mile is a long way for a 10 year old.”
Everyone cheered for their classmates and Schwengel on as she competed in the various events.
“She did pretty good for a photographer,” says 11-year-old Derek Hartmann of Wonder Lake.
To see more on how Amanda performed in the fitness tests, watch the video at: http://www.mchenrycountymagazine.com/multimedia/?id=76
