St. Rose Catholic School Activates Their Students
Activate Allen County held it’s 2016-2017 Activated School Challenge Award Ceremony (sponsored by St. Rita’s Health Partners) earlier in 2017. One of this year’s award recipients was St. Rose Catholic School. St. Rose Catholic School is using innovative and non-traditional games to get children excited to be physically active.
One of the ways that St. Rose School is being an innovator is by introducing “Sport Stacking” to their students. Sport stacking is an individual and team sport that involves stacking plastic cups in specific sequences in as little time as possible. It has grown to be a sport that is played worldwide, complete with international competitions. St. Rose was able to purchase three sets of “Speed Stacks” cups and two timing mats for each of their Kindergarten-8th grade classrooms, thanks to the Activated School Challenge and the award they won by participating.
Donna Judy, Principal of St. Rose Catholic School stated, “we chose to introduce sport stacking to our students because it can be a lifelong activity requiring fitness, agility, coordination, concentration, and quickness.” She continued, “we started by introducing cup stacking to each class in Physical Education with a 2 week unit where students learned what sport stacking is, why it’s good for them, and the strategies and techniques for stacking. All of our students have found success with cup stacking. One of the great things about this sport is, an individual can compete against the clock to improve their time and technique or challenge a friend. It also doesn’t require a lot of equipment or space, and can be done anywhere, anytime. Persistence and perseverance are key to improvement and those are virtues we look to instill in our students. It’s been a great addition to our school.Students in every grade level enjoy sport stacking and having this equipment has given them an additional activity during indoor recess!”
This is one small part of St. Rose School’s effort to activate their students. They are using unique and exciting strategies to introduce their students to all types of physical activity. Alternative sports and physical activity opportunities are an important way to motivate all students. We commend St. Rose Catholic Schools for making their students healthier. To learn more about the Activated School Challenge, call the Activate office at 419-221-5035.