The Canisius University Physical and Health Education Teacher Education (P/HETE) had a very successful Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE) America National Convention last week in Cleveland (March 12 – March 16).
Current teacher candidate Katie Gawronski was honored as one of the SHAPE America Majors of the Year while former undergraduate and graduate P/HETE student Michael Ertel ’14, MSEd ’20 and current PhD student at the University of South Carolina was honored with both the Ruth Abernathy Presidential Scholarship and Dr. Thomas McKenzie Research Award. The Abernathy grant is given to graduate students majoring in physical education and the McKenzie award is given to future researchers exploring physical activity in natural environments such as schools, parks and home settings.
Three former P/HETE majors along with Ertel also presented at the SHAPE Convention. John Strong ’98 and current faculty member at SUNY Niagara presented two sessions entitled Bringing Purposeful Competition to Your Classroom and Cultural Equity in Physical Education: Transformative Practices for Youth while Dwayne Edwards MS ’20 from Regis High School in Florida presented with Drs. Sara Flory and Carrie Safron from the University of South Florida and Manhattanville College at the Curriculum and Instruction Scholar Lecture and Forum.
Likewise, Paul Malinowski ’20, a PhD student at the University of Illinois , presented a session entitled Occupational Socialization of Adapted Physical Education/Adapted Physical Activity Doctoral Students. Michael Ertel lead a poster research session called Parental Perception of Facilitators and Barriers to Childhood Physical Activity.
Finally, the convention culminated with the release of the New National K-12 Physical Education Standards. Clancy Seymour, EdD, served on the National Task Force for the past two years to revise the standards and presented several times last week detailing its new approach. Seymour, Michael Ertel and colleagues also presented a session entitled AI in PETE and HETE Programs: Avoid and Immoral or Adopt and Integrate?
Submitted by: Clancy Seymour, EdD, associate professor, Teacher Education and Leadership
