Three letter jackets and a coveted Blackhawks T-shirt were awarded to the four adapted physical education students at Central who had maintained their target heart rates during exercise for the most cumulative minutes during the first semester of the 1998-99 school year.  The highest total was 200 minutes, tabulated with the aid of a heart rate monitor worn during one physical education class period each week.

     Aided by student P.E. leaders, the teenagers with multi needs, in wheelchairs, or coping with handicaps such as blindness, hearing impairment, cerebral palsy or Down Syndrome participate in a variety of adapted physical education activities.  On Wednesdays, they wear heart rate monitors to help them and their teacher determine if they are exercising appropriately.  Data downloaded from the wristwatch monitors into a computer includes the amount of minutes the target rate is maintained.

     "For me," said Pat, "the use of the monitors is the only way I can tell if my adapted P.E. students are working hard enough or, in many cases, too hard.  It helps them establish their own pace and helps us determine which activities are beneficial and appeal to the them."

     Pat regularly reports the heart rate monitor data and her observations to the parents of her adapted P.E. students.

    "Parents find the information very helpful in determining what exercises they can encourage their children to do at home," said Pat.  "It also suggests what activities the students should be planning to pursue as adults."

     To reward her students for sustained effort, Pat recycles old trophies and medals found in school storage areas, makes ribbons and magnets and looks for donated items to be used as awards.  Since the awards change, depending upon donation or Pat's creativity, the students never know what they might receive, which adds a bit of anticipation to the effort made in the hopes of an award.

     The letter jackets for the first semester's top award winners came from a woman whose sons attended NCHS and from Pat's former neighbor, another NCHS graduate, who now is a Naperville fireman/paramedic.  The jackets were cleaned and decorated with logos supplied at cost by the Naperville Sport Shop.

     "The awards serve as a good incentive for the students, and they really have to earn them," said Pat.  "Our top award winners wouldn't even wait for me to take attendance and officially start class."