Washington County Enterprise-Leader
School Celebrates Fitness Center
LINCOLN ONLY ONE OF THREE DISTRICTS IN STATE TO RECEIVE GRANT
LINCOLN — A new $ 100,000 fitness center at Lincoln Middle School will provide resources to those students that are already available to many other children in northwest Arkansas.
Stan Karber, assistant principal for the middle school, applied for the grant but he doesn’t take credit for the new center.
“I just happened to be the one to tell their story,” Karber said.
Lincoln Middle School cele- brated its new state-of-the-art Live Positively fitness center last week with a ribbon cutting and assembly attended by all fifth-seventh graders, school administrators and community leaders. Others at the assembly were state Rep. Charlene Fite and Johnny Key, commissioner of Arkansas Education Department.
Arkansas was one of four states this year selected to receive three $100,000 fitness centers from the National Foundation for Governors’ Fitness Councils. In addition to Lincoln, Martin Luther King Magnet Elementary in Little Rock and S.C. Tucker Elementary School in Danville also received new fitness centers.
Jake Steinfeld, fitness television personality, founder of Body by Jake and chairman of National Foundation for Governors’ Fitness Councils, was on hand to celebrate with Lincoln students and show them how to use the equipment and take care of their bodies.
Steinfeld told Lincoln students the foundation looks for a community and group of kids who want to improve their health and stay healthy.
Karber said he believes Lincoln’s application stood out because many students do not have access to resources in this area.
“I’ve been to a lot of schools and this is a northwest Arkansas school but we do not have resources available that other kids in northwest Arkansas get,” Karber said. “As far as the financial aspect, we are not a northwest Arkansas school. A lot of times we are on the outside looking in.”
Lincoln is the second largest
district in the state, geographically, and the district has a lot of dirt roads, Karber said. Lincoln Consolidated School District includes the rural communities of Summers, Cincinnati, Evansville, Dutch Mills and Cane Hill.
“Kids in Evansville — they don’t go to a fitness center,” Karber said. “They’ve never seen the likes of this.”
The new fitness center will be a source of pride for the school and community and will provide a place for students to improve their health and stay stronger, he added.
The fitness center has 46 pieces of equipment from Tuff Stuff Fitness International. The foundation brought in the equipment and installed it on a padded surface in the middle school’s P.E. gym.
Students are l ooking forward to using the machines.
Noah Moore plays football, basketball and baseball and he plans to use the equipment as much as he can to provide his skill level.
“I want to use it a lot,” Noah said. “It’s pretty awesome. It’s so nice to have this.”
Jodee Stout does not play sports but she wants to use the equipment to get stronger.
The next step, Karber said, is to plan how to roll out the fitness center. This will involve training on the equip- ment and upkeep and maintenance of the machines. The priority of the center is for students but the school district plans to make it available to the community. Details for this will have to be worked out.
“We’re excited to be the recipient of this and for the kids to be the beneficiaries of it,” Karber said.