Exercise improves learning at local schools

Students in the Good Spirit School Division are taking part in an innovative new program that ties exercise to learning.

Classes in Yorkton Regional High School, Dr. Brass School, and Esterhazy's PJ Gillen School are engaging in vigorous cardiovascular exercise before their lessons in an attempt to improve not just their physical fitness but their brain health as well.

It's called the Spark Program, and it's modeled after an initiative designed by a Harvard professor and proven at Saskatoon's City Park Collegiate.

At YRHS, the program came into being when Universal Teaching Program (UTP) teacher Carma Lee Doupe was offered a one-time grant as part of a government Youth in Custody initiative. Doupe's Universal Teaching Program offers an alternate education track to students facing personal issues that affect their school performance, including youths transitioning back into the regular school system from custody.

"Mrs. Anderson, my EA in my classroom, had watched on television a program about a fitness program that they were doing in City Park School in Saskatoon They started creating a fitness program for them where they would exercise first thing in the morning," explains Doupe.

Doupe and Anderson learned that the City Park program was a pilot project based on the work of Harvard psychiatrist Dr. John Ratey.

"He followed a school in the United States, and when they started targeting fitness, they noticed a marked increase in attendance, behavior problems went down, kids lost weight, kids who had been on a lot of medications were able to come off of them slowly."

Daily exercise, Ratey showed, has a measurable effect on brain chemistry that causes lasting improvements in school performance.

Doupe and Physical Education Department Head Darren Wandy purchased $20,000 worth of exercise equipment and tracked down several more pieces donated by community members. It was placed in a basement room recently renovated after last summer's flood.

Starting in January, all members of the UTP class have been required to exercise on the machines for at least 20 minutes at the start of each morning, maintaining a target heart rate during that time.

The benefits, says Doupe, have been clear.

"Some kids have lost weight. Some kids are hungrier for healthy food when they come to my room. They're more focused, more able to concentrate, less aggressive, and less edgy."

The program has also helped to build group unity and self-confidence. The students motivate one another in friendly competitions. They look forward to their daily exercise. Retention rates of UTP students have gone up.

"They have more sense of community now. They have more sense of attachment to each other and attachment to the school, and so they tend to return."

Other groups, including high performance students, now have a turn on the equipment each day. Some teachers send troublesome students down to the room to burn off excess energy and aggression on a regular schedule.

Spark initiatives are happening on a smaller scale at Dr. Brass and PJ Gillen Schools. Director of Education Dwayne Reeve says the division is watching the results closely.

It isn't realistic at this time for other small schools to purchase thousands of dollars in exercise equipment, but Reeve says the division may pursue more inexpensive ways of expanding the program, such as active video games.

"I think there are ways it can be done without the large-scale equipment."