Project FLEX has secured a five-year, $2.55 million grant from the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ) to continue and expand its work providing positive interventions with youth who are in secure custody of the state. The NIU Department of Kinesiology and
Read moreMore to life? Project FLEX participants discuss how NIU program changed them
Different situations. Different backgrounds. Different races. Different traumas. Different struggles. Yet the four young men facing the audience in the Sky Room of the Holmes Student Center do share one reality – and, for many, it’s potentially insurmountable. Prison. Two already have
Read moreProject FLEX participants to tell stories of how sport offered healing behind bars
Project FLEX somehow continues to surprise Jenn Jacobs and Zach Wahl-Alexander. More than four years have passed since the associate professors in the NIU Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education launched their initiative to deliver structured physical activity and positive life lessons
Read moreProject FLEX continues to inspire youth behind bars: ‘I don’t want to be in a cell’
Nelson Mandela’s recorded voice affirms the message of the short video: Sport has the power to change the world. As students in KNPE 393: Sociology of Sport watch and consider that declaration April 14, associate professor Jenn Jacobs asks a question: “Are
Read moreThree-time alumnus Tim Mack reflects on eight years at NIU, wisdom of moms
“Dear NIU,” the letter begins. “I can’t believe these past eight years have come to an end. I still remember calling my mom after my very first semester at NIU, contemplating whether college was for me because I barely finished above a
Read moreField trip: Project FLEX visitors spend day at NIU to witness their possibilities
The topic of the day was, appropriately enough, confidence and self-efficacy. In other words, Associate Professor Jenn Jacobs told her students in KNPE 310: Psychological Aspects of Sport and Exercise, the power of the mind. Or, she clarified, the perception of one’s
Read moreGoing global: Online conference gathers TPSR practitioners for ideas, inspiration
Javon Davis lifted the bottom of his T-shirt to his forehead, simply to mop the sweat that comes from shooting hoops with teenage boys and young men. Then they saw it. Couldn’t miss it. The scar across his stomach. Davis could explain.
Read moreProject FLEX changes lives, outlooks beyond participants in youth facilities
Kenneth Riley Jr. went behind the walls of the Illinois Youth Center in St. Charles to impart his passion for fitness and exercise. But what the NIU College of Education graduate student discovered inside the juvenile medium-security facility has changed him as
Read moreCOE launches fundraising campaigns to support students: Make an NIU Impact!
Make a difference! Can you donate $25 today to support COE students? The NIU Foundation has launched “NIU Impact,” a new crowdfunding platform, to support initiatives that include three NIU College of Education projects. Open now and running through Monday, May 3,
Read moreProject FLEX 3.0 begins, ready to grow
COVID-19 has proven no match for Project FLEX. It’s true that when the pandemic arrived in the spring, the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education (KNPE) did suspend its initiative that provide in-person, structured physical activity to young men incarcerated at the
Read moreSwole Patrol: KNPE’s Project FLEX adds earned privilege of 1:1 personal training
Swole – think “swollen” – is a hip way to compliment jocks on their muscles. Urban Dictionary defines swole as “a paragon of hypermasculinity, manifesting in the physical and attitudinal embodiment of strength, occupying space with intimidating quantity and developing rippling musculature
Read moreProject FLEX culminates in campus visit for young men who glimpse opportunity
They seem like any other college students. Young. Comfortably dressed. High school graduates. Eager to participate. Curious about GPAs and friends, part-time jobs and time management. Interested in earning college degrees to pursue careers in coaching, law enforcement and music. But these
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