Catskill CSD has received two grants to expand physical education opportunities for students across our district. Catskill High School Physical Education Teacher Caitlin Davis applied for the NFL FLAG-In-School grant and the Outdoor Adventure Grant from the Outdoor Tomorrow Foundation to provide exciting hands-on learning for our students.
"Flag football is a growing sport," said Catskill High School Physical Education Teacher Nick Fabiano. "Last year we added a girls flag football team in the spring for the first time. We want to introduce more students to the sport, and expand opportunities for both boys and girls teams, and bring flag football into our PE classes. We used the equipment during the first week we got it, and it made our classes more interactive, engaged, and fun."
The NFL FLAG-In-School grant includes 50 NFL FLAG belts, 10 age-appropriate footballs, a ball pump and a mesh equipment bag. It also provides 30 online videos covering flag football fundamentals and daily nutrition tips, a guide to the rules of flag football, nutrition education resources and NFL- and NFL club-branded certificates of achievement.
The district also received an Outdoor Adventure Grand from the Outdoor Tomorrow Foundation to expand outdoor learning in the elementary school, middle school, and high school. The grant provides equipment and materials including compasses, indoor fishing poles and fish, and tarps that students can use to build a safety structure.
At the elementary school level 5th-grade students embark on an outdoor adventure where they learn to kayak and fish. Davis wants to continue and grow those activities for middle and high school students.
“We want our students to develop real-life skills they can carry with them into adulthood and learn things they can't necessarily learn in a classroom,” Davis said.
Both grants will help our physical education teachers provide new fun and engaging activities for our students.