Kids Sports Stars

2008-9 Programs

The Grand Canyon Trekkers program was implemented in 12 schools, including 4 Title I schools in the Paradise Valley Unified School District. A total of 4089 kids participated with 1689 of them being in the Title I schools. The participating Title I schools were Aire Libre, Campo Bello, Larkspur, and Palomino II. In the Title I schools, approximately 80% of the students volunteered to participate.

The evaluation component included the monitoring of the distance each child walked/ran given that the 2007-8 research demonstrated that this activity positively influences cardio-respiratory endurance. During the twice per week at lunch, 12-week program, kids walked/ran around a Ľ mile track. Mileage was logged on Trail Cards with small plastic feet and colored bead chain given for each 5 miles completed. Kids wear the rewards as a bracelet and multiple chains make a coveted necklace. The top 30 kids from each school received a certificate of achievement. The top few walkers actually were taken to the Grand Canyon for a field trip. The 12 schools logged almost 43,771 miles while the Title I kids logged 12485 miles for an average of 17.0 and 7.3 average miles per kid respectively. Most of these kids would not have had this activity were it not for the program!

In addition, a toolkit that outlines in detail, the operating model for Grand Canyon Trekkers and included all materials necessary for implementation in a new school district was developed. KSS supported the operation in the Title I schools, the evaluation and the toolkit development. PTA’s and and Scottsdale Healthcare supported the operation of the program in the non-Title I schools.

2007-8 Programs

The curriculum-based physical activity-focused GCT program was implemented at 10 schools representing over 6000 kids at the poverty level as defined by school free lunch criteria. Over half of the children at ten of the eleven schools are eligible for a free or reduced (cost) lunch. At one of the schools, the Palomino school, where Scottsdale Healthcare runs a medical clinic, 100% of the children are eligible for free or reduced lunches.

KSS funded a major research project in these 10 schools. The research was done in collaboration with Arizona State University faculty. Data was gathered on 1100 participating kids. The evaluation and research findings are significant and show improved cardiovascular fitness (as measured by the PACER test) in the kids in the program. Additional evaluation and research findings have been reported in other KSS programs.


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