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Written by Tyler Raley | Photos by Jeremy Raines

HELENA – Helena Intermediate School has received a monumental spur to its physical education and resources with the rewarding of a grant due to its efforts to “Sack Obesity”.

The $25,000 Sack Obesity Grant that was awarded to the school’s physical education program by a partnership between Auburn University and UAB was presented as an incentive for leading students towards a healthy lifestyle throughout the school year.

This initiative has always been one that the coaches at Helena Intermediate have pushed to present to its students, and the staff is highly overjoyed that their efforts have been recognized.

Coach Eli Beall understands that this opportunity is something that will only provide a positive impact in the future of the school’s teachings, helping to do more that will benefit the health of his students.

“We’re super excited with the opportunity,” Beall said. “We didn’t think it would be the full amount that was described, but we were pumped up about having the opportunity to have that money to spend on kids in this community because we’re always trying to do everything we can to make sure Helena has things for kids to do to stay active to stay outside and be healthy.”

For a program within the county that is continuing to grow by the year, the staff at Helena is constantly looking for more ways to uplift its P.E. program and improve it for the future.

Needless to say, when the opportunity presented itself to earn this grant, it was no question that this leap of faith was worth taking.

“This is our chance to do what we do to be able to find funds for attacking obesity or some type of incentive to get kids up and active,” Beall said. “We had talked about things that we would like to do here at this school, so we were chomping at the bit for something like this. We were already ready to put tons of stuff on here, but we were trying to see what the school really needed.”

One of the main goals that the coaches are dedicating some of the funding towards is for the refinishing and updating of outside equipment and surfaces, understanding how big that plays into the curriculum that they teach.

It was not just the teaching aspect that went into that decision however, as all of the coaches know that their students can receive physical activity outside of P.E. class, such as during recess. They desired to provide an environment that kids can have fun in all throughout the day while maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

This was the main outcome in mind when submitting an application, but the coaches wanted to make their submission appealing in a way that fit the current needs of the area they are in.

As a result, some more of the funding will go towards helping gain new pickleball courts and basketball goals, parts of two sports that are continuing to be popular in both the state of Alabama and the Helena community, as well.

Coach Ashley Bryant saw the need as a perfect eye-opener to the grant’s selection committee, highlighting how much the kids have enjoyed those units in school.

“We wanted to think about what the kids most enjoy,” Bryant said. “Last year, we taught a pickleball unit with them that they all really loved and had heard of pickleball. I think that’s been a really popular game within Shelby County, like outdoor parks and recs. We thought, ‘Well, we can appeal to Auburn and UAB through pickleball courts and new basketball goals, and just improving the area we already have outside.’”

Another big goal that the coaches have in mind when putting this grant to use is helping to make some of their equipment more accessible for those who may be handicapped or have special needs.

With the understanding that some of their students face more challenges in getting exercise in, coach Tyler Rollin desires to make it a priority that those kids can have every equal opportunity to get as much fun out of P.E. as everybody else.

“When you think of obesity, you think of your normal average student, but we also have some students that have some special needs and it’s a little bit tougher to get those kids active,” Rollin said. “That’s where the money can also help, so we can buy some equipment and things that allow for those students that aren’t as fortunate or have some special accommodations that are needed, we can make those things happen for those kids.”

Beall added that the school has a number of students in wheelchairs this year, saying that the program hopes to make some of the equipment more wheelchair accessible while also making a huge push towards refinishing their track and other surfaces in order to make it smoother overall.

While the grant is a huge kickstart to all of the enhancements that the school wants to complete for their physical education program, the staff recognizes that it is not going to get the job fully done.

Bryant emphasized that she hopes their efforts will present more opportunities for Helena to earn funding, knowing it would go a long way towards the program’s end goal.

“It is a lot of money, but even in regards to the project that we want to complete, it’s not going to fund every single thing that we want to do out there,” Bryant said. “We’re still looking for more funding and opportunities to finish and complete this project for what we had written the grant for as well.”

Nevertheless, as these efforts continue on to help sack obesity, Helena Intermediate School knows that this award is monumental for the future, only looking to go up from this point on.