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Baumholtz is Oregon PE Teacher of the year

High school — Frank Baumholtz emphasizes lifetime fitness approach to physical education

• By: Laurent Bonczijk  
• Published: 10/20/2009 2:01:02 PM

Photo By: Laurent BonczijkA background in PE
Frank Baumholtz, who has taught in Newberg since 2004, holds a master’s degree in education from OSU and a bachelor’s degree in physical education and athletic training from Linfield.

  Looking at Frank Baumholtz there is no doubt that he practices what he preaches. The barrel-chested physical education teacher and varsity baseball coach at Newberg High School was recently named Oregon’s PE teacher of the year by the Oregon Association for Physical Education.
   Baumholtz, who teaches in Blue School, has been emphasizing lifetime fitness to his students. The fact is, he tells them, that it’s very unlikely they will play on a competitive sports team as an adult. On the other hand it’s likely that they’ll join a health club, hike, bike or partake in some other outdoor activity. Oregon has numerous opportunities for outdoor activities and it would be a shame not to take advantage of it, he says.
   Not only has he been exposing his students to nontraditional sports such as rock climbing, kayaking, hiking and dance, but he’s also added a written component to his PE classes.
   Blue School Principal Dan Malone admits he’s fielded questions from parents who were surprised their offspring had to write essays to pass PE, but he finds that it fits perfectly with the school district’s goal of implementing literacy throughout the curriculum. “(There are) very few PE teachers anywhere who really spend time with their students writing,” Malone said.
   “We want our students to be well-rounded,” Baumholtz said, adding that while some students are taken aback by some of the new offerings “as long as we have clear expectations and we communicate with the parents” they understand the purpose of moving away from the traditional team sport curriculum.
   Some sports are really a hit. “The kids love it,” he said of rock climbing, “it’s something different, it’s totally outside of the routine of the traditional PE setting”.
   Traditional team sports haven’t fallen by the wayside, Baumholtz said, the lifetime fitness sports have just been added to the old curriculum. But even so, the delivery has changed. He is an advocate of the sport education model where the PE teacher acts as a facilitator and students are called on to act as coaches or referees, forcing them to delve deeper into the sport.
   The true test of whether he’s impacting a student is whether they’ll stick to being physically active as they grow older. “The odds are against us,” Baumholtz said, noting that students are bombarded with opportunities to indulge in junk food and that most people have sedentary lifestyle and that “they only get two semesters of PE in high school.” He tells them that no matter how hard they work during the hour of class, what matters is what they do during the 23 hours remaining in that day and the 24 hours of the next day when he doesn’t see them.
   “I’m a lifelong learner,” said Baumholtz, who’s been teaching PE for 15 years. He has no interest in teaching in the same manner he did 15 years ago and expects he will have changed his delivery in another 15 years.
   His advocacy of an active lifestyle doesn’t stop with students as he is also a certified personal trainer and has recently started a twice-weekly morning fitness class for district staff before school.
   “I’m passionate about education, especially physical education,” said Baumholtz. Eventually it all goes back to the students: “they’re the reason I do what I do.”
   Baumholtz is also a contender for the district Sport and Physical Education Teacher of the Year. He holds a masters degree in education from Oregon State University and a bachelor’s degree in physical education and athletic training from Linfield. He has taught in Newberg since 2004.

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