May 23, 2017 – IHT congratulates IDEA Public Schools on attaining high academic achievement while maintaining a commitment to deliver physical education programs that motivate students to improve their health and academic performance.
On May 5, the Washington Post released its 19th annual list of America’s Most Challenging High Schools. IDEA, a system of public charter schools operating throughout Texas, saw five of its campuses rank among the nation’s top nine most academically challenging schools. The Post ranks schools based on the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Cambridge tests taken by students and number of graduating seniors in the measured school year.
Frontier College Prep (third), Mission College Prep (fourth), San Juan College Prep (fifth), San Benito College Prep (sixth) and Quest College Prep (ninth) earned high marks for their challenging curriculum. At four of the IDEA campuses, at least 76 percent of the students passed at least one of the AP tests, and both Frontier and San Juan boasted 89 percent passing rates. IDEA’s students found academic success while also participating in a physical education program in they combined to burn 25 million calories while logging 3 million minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity.
Austin – Interactive Health Technologies, LLC CEO Ben Bentzin received the 2016 Technology Community Leadership Award at the Austin IT Executives of the Year reception presented by the Austin Society of Information Management.
The Technology Community Leadership Award recognizes excellence in leadership skills and execution in the eyes of the IT staff and the executive management of the organization with a focus on community involvement and service.
“I am grateful to the Austin chapter of the Society of Information Management for honoring me with this award,” Bentzin said. “Jen Ohlson and I co-founded Interactive Health Technologies, LLC with a vision to transform physical fitness for children, and I’m honored that SIM recognizes the contributions that IHT has made toward getting kids active and fit.” Read More
Austin – Interactive Health Technologies, LLC CEO Ben Bentzin has been named a finalist for the 2016 Information Technologist of the Year award presented by the Austin Society of Information Management.
The ceremony announcing the winner takes place at the Innotech Austin conference Thursday, Nov. 17 at 4:30 p.m. at the Austin Convention Center.
“I am grateful to the Austin chapter of the Society of Information Management for nominating me for this award,” Bentzin said. “Jen Ohlson and I co-founded Interactive Health Technologies, LLC with a vision to transform physical fitness for children, and I’m honored that SIM recognizes the contributions that IHT has made toward getting kids active and fit.” Read More
HSSD Superintendent Damian LaCroix, Dick Fosbury, Bay View PE teacher Kaitlyn Bloemer
On Friday, Sept. 30, track legend Dick Fosbury helped IHT celebrate an innovative group of physical education students at Bay View Middle School by delivering the grand prize from the IHT Spirit Video Challenge powered by adidas.
Fosbury delivered a classroom set of new adidas ZONE for IHT Spirit wrist heart rate monitors to Bay View teacher Kaitlyn Bloemer. He then participated in PE classes after speaking to the entire school during a pep rally Friday morning. Watch a video recap of the pep rally and visit here.
“It’s always very special to have an Olympic Gold Medalist, and one who’s so well-known that he’s left his legacy in his sport, [speak to our students],” said Bay View Principal Steve Meyers.
‘I have to do something different’
“When they raised the bar to 5 feet, 6 inches, I had never made that height before,” said Fosbury as he shared the story of how he developed the jumping style that now bears his name. “I thought, ‘I have to do something different.’”
To reach new heights, Fosbury used his engineering skills to innovate a new method for his jumps. The jump is officially named the “Fosbury Flop” after Fosbury cleared the bar by jumping back-first and flopping over the bar.
Fosbury used the skills that later led him to a career in engineering to develop a different style, one in which he jumped back-first and flopped over the bar. It worked, and the Fosbury Flop was born.
Like Fosbury’s flop, the Zone monitors represent our latest innovation to improve physical education. The wrist-based heart rate monitor allows students to see how hard they are exercising. The monitors change color based on the student’s heart rate zone, helping them understand what vigorous exercise feels like.
PE Technology
Bay View PE students with Dick Fosbury
The monitors bring heart rate monitor technology to PE. IHT’s Spirit System collects data from the Zone monitors to generate a visualization of each student’s individual workout session. The Spirit System allows teachers to assess PE performance, track success and measure achievement aligned with nationally defined standards.
“As we’ve integrated technology into math and social studies and other subject areas, [more people are understanding] the prominent place that it can play in our physical education programs,” said Meyers.
Fosbury emphasized the importance of using technology to accumulate data in physical education.
“What’s really important today that I’ve learned is that it is critically important to have data to be able to monitor where your progress is,” he said.
Making memories
In conjunction with the Zone’s release, IHT and adidas conducted a Spirit Video Challenge last spring. Students and teachers submitted videos demonstrating how they raised the bar in their physical education classes. The grand prize included a classroom set of the new monitors in addition to three years of the IHT Spirit System software. The 60 videos entered in the contest generated 29,000 votes. And can we mention that the videos gained 63,000 plays as well? Bay View’s winning video had more than 4,000 views.
“Today was an awesome experience for our students to hear an incredible story,” said Damian LaCroix, the superintendent of schools at the Howard-Suamico School District. “It’s a story not only of athletic accomplishment but also the importance of academic accomplishment.
“I loved mathematics and I loved science,” Fosbury told the students. “I had to work at that.”
Fosbury also answered questions from the student audience and posed for pictures with students, teachers and administrators, many of which have been posted to Facebook and Twitter.
Congratulations Bay View. Thank you for raising the bar in PE.
Bay View Middle School won a national Physical Education contest sponsored by adidas and Interactive Health Technologies (IHT), competing against over 15,000 students from across the country. Students participated in a nationwide 30-day heart rate challenge, collectively burning over 61,656,391 calories and spending 2,452,960 minutes in moderate-to-vigorous-physical-activity in their target heart rate zone.
On May 5, the Washington Post released its 19th annual list of America’s Most Challenging High Schools. IDEA, a system of public charter schools operating throughout Texas, saw five of its campuses rank among the nation’s top nine most academically challenging schools. The Post ranks schools based on the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Cambridge tests taken by students and number of graduating seniors in the measured school year.
