Posted on 17 March 2011. Tags: Fuel Up To Play 60, Marilyn Eaton, National Football League, Pottsgrove Middle School, Pottsgrove School District
POTTSTOWN PA – The phys-ed pride of Pottsgrove Middle School, teacher Marilyn Eaton, has been selected as one of several finalists in the National Football League‘s “Physical Education Teacher of the Year” competition, Pottsgrove School District spokeswoman Beth Trapani reported late Wednesday afternoon (March 16, 2011).
Teacher Marilyn Eaton
Eaton has already won state and local honors as an architect of the two-year “Fuel Up To Play 60″ efforts at the school, North Hanover Street, Pottstown PA, to keep students healthy, fit, and exercising at least 60 minutes every day. Now she will vie with a handful of other similarly honored teachers from across the country to be recognized with the national award. The Fuel Up program is sponsored by the NFL and the National Dairy Council.
If named as the league’s top teacher, Eaton would win a $10,000 stipend, a $10,000 companion grant for the school’s physical education program, an expenses-paid trip to the NFL Draft scheduled for April 28-30 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, and be asked to serve as an NFL Network spokesperson during 2011.
The NFL says it will announce its winner next month. Until then, according to Trapani, Eaton and the other contenders face “an extensive interview and application process.”
Pottsgrove students and faculty members have reveled in, and also benefited from, Eaton’s success and the attention given to their Fuel Up efforts. The middle school was recognized as having one of the best such programs in Pennsylvania, and won a day-long visit to the school during February by Philadelphia Eagles tight end Brent Celek.
Eaton also won an expenses-paid trip to the NFL Pro Bowl in Hawaii.
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Posted in Education, Health, People, Pottsgrove Schools, Sports
Posted on 11 February 2011. Tags: Fuel Up To Play 60, Marilyn Eaton, NFL Network, Pottsgrove Board of School Directors, Pottsgrove Middle School, Pottsgrove School District
WILL SHE BE PHYS ED TEACHER OF THE YEAR? – Pottsgrove Middle School physical education teacher Marilyn Eaton (above) was nominated for the “Physical Education Teacher Of The Year Award” offered by the National Football League Network, school Principal Dr. William Ziegler reported Thursday (Feb. 10, 2011) from his Twitter account. Eaton has been instrumental in developing and promoting the school’s two-year participation in the “Fuel Up To Play 60″ exercise and fitness program for teens conducted by the NFL and the National Dairy Council. A group of the school’s Fuel Up team members (below) gave a presentation on its successes during Tuesday’s (Feb. 8) meeting of the Pottsgrove School District Board of School Directors. Last month Eaton won an all-expenses-paid trip to the NFL Pro Bowl in Hawaii in recognition of Pottsgrove’s leadership among participating Fuel Up schools in Pennsylvania. If ultimately selected as the NFL Network’s top teacher, Eaton would receive a $10,000 stipend, a $10,000 school companion physical education grant, a trip to the NFL Draft, and serve as a network spokesperson during 2011. Five finalists will be chosen in March; the winner will be named in April.
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Related (to the Pottsgrove Board of School Directors’ Feb. 8 meeting):
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Posted in Education, Health, Pottsgrove Schools
Posted on 06 January 2011. Tags: Fuel Up To Play 60, National Football League, Pottsgrove Middle School, Pottsgrove School District
POTTSTOWN PA – A collaboration between the Pottsgrove School District‘s Pottsgrove Middle School and the National Football League’s “Fuel Up To Play 60″ program is gaining more attention across Pennsylvania and the country, a district spokeswoman reports.
Students will "tune up" with Tavella, pictured, and fellow PHS grad Aaron Christ.
Pottsgrove and its Fuel Up team of 25 students now ranks as “one of the (program’s) premiere schools in the state,” district representative Beth Trapani claimed Wednesday (Jan. 5, 2011), for its effort to encourage healthy eating and lifestyle habits, including 60 minutes of exercise daily. Team members are among those leading Pennsylvania “in the number of hours logged in physical” and other activities that promote fitness, she said.
They’ll continue that trend Monday (Jan. 10), with the help of two 2004 Pottsgrove High School graduates who, like the team itself, are leaders in their endeavors.
Graduates Aaron Christ, a nationally certified fitness instructor, and Dustin Tavella, a fast-climbing songwriter and recording artist, will combine their talents next week as they accompany students out to the track behind the middle school, 1351 N. Hanover St., Pottstown PA.
Christ, a Boyertown PA resident, will coax students to strut their stuff in exercises while Tavella, who lives within the district, provides musical entertainment. Trapani described the event as a “fitness fest … (with) lots of great opportunities.”
The middle school is racking up accolades for its Fuel Up participation, Trapani noted.
A member of the Philadelphia Eagles football team is expected to visit the school later this month or in early February to personally deliver its congratulations. In addition, middle school physical education teacher Marilyn Eaton has been selected by a Fuel Up co-sponsor, the Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association, to attend the NFL Pro Bowl in Hawaii at later this month at its expense. Her efforts in the program, and those of the middle school team, will be recognized during a ceremony leading up to the game.
Posted in Health, Pottsgrove Schools, Sports
Posted on 31 December 2010. Tags: Fuel Up To Play 60, National Football League, Pottsgrove Middle School, Pottsgrove School District
POTTSTOWN PA – When athlete Kevin Kolb takes the field Sunday (Jan. 2, 2011) to play as the Philadelphia Eagles’ football team quarterback against the Dallas Cowboys, replacing the Birds’ injured-but-healing Michael Vick, some students at Pottsgrove Middle School may be watching more for usable fitness tips than the mechanics of a shovel pass.
Twenty-five students at the school, 1351 N. Hanover St., Pottstown PA, are enrolled for a second year in the “Fuel Up To Play 60″ health and wellness program sponsored by the National Football League (NFL), of which the Eagles and Cowboys are a part, and the National Dairy Council. The program focuses on teaching students to eat healthy, make health-smart choices, and exercise for 60 minutes each day.
The initiative began in October (2010), about a month after school re-opened, according to physical education and health teacher Marilyn Eaton. Since then its participants have walked circuits around the school’s outdoor track, held push-up competitions inside its cafeteria, and even taken a field trip to go hiking near Pennsylvania’s Bushkill Falls.
Members have succeeded in completing three of the NFL’s Fuel Up activities, Eaton reported, and they meet regularly “to map out the rest of the challenges for the remainder of the school year.”
Besides Eaton, six other teachers – Christine Henry, Jen Forwood, Jim Polli, Gloria Fritz, Eric Engstrom and Steve Palladino – also help supervise events.
The NFL program dovetails with others at the school, and across the Pottsgrove School District, to encourage students to think more about personal health, middle school Principal Dr. William Ziegler added. Not surprisingly, it also helps promote football in general and NFL professional teams in particular. A large “Fuel Up” poster (below) is one of the first things students see when the enter the lobby on the school’s west side.
Given his successes this season, it’s likely some of the participants wish they could excel like Vick, who was hurt Tuesday (Dec. 28) while playing against Minnesota. And maybe, if only for Eagles pride, those who watch Sunday’s game are rooting for Kolb to do as well.
Posted in Education, Health, Pottsgrove Schools, Sports, Video
