WASHINGTON, DC — PE4life presented its Excellence in Advocacy-Education award to Randy Nichols, an assistant professor of health and physical education at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania, during the National PE Day Awards Dinner in Washington, DC. The award is presented to individuals or organizations that have worked to advance the cause of physical education in the field of education on a local, state or national level. Nichols was honored for developing innovative, fitness-based physical education classes and projects at Slippery Rock.
“Randy Nichols' teaching values exemplify PE4life values,” said Anne Flannery, president and CEO of PE4life. “Randy has incorporated the PE4life Training Manual as a required text for his graduate-level classes and created a class on the use of technology in physical education, including pedometers, heart rate monitors and fitness assessment programs. He ideally represents what we need to achieve our mission: College faculty members who are committed to teaching the next generation of physical educators a health-and-wellness approach to physical education.”
Nichols developed the Make a Change project in which he challenged his students to increase the amount of physical education that kindergarten through 12th grade students receive in his students' home school districts. The project required his students to identify barriers, locate grant sources, write a grant application and develop community-based partnerships.