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 moreGoggles on, paddles in hand: NIU serves as pilot ‘metaversity’ to test VR teaching
Since joining the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education faculty in 2015, Zach Wahl-Alexander has taught in plenty of Anderson Hall spaces. None is remotely like where his KNPE 343 class is meeting this fall. Wahl-Alexander accepted the university’s invitation to teach
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 moreKNPE students, faculty, alums converge for advocacy, networking at conference
One year after COVID canceled the annual conference of the Illinois Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (IAHPERD), members were more than eager to gather again Dec. 2 and 3. That includes students and faculty from the NIU Department of
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 morePaul Wright, colleagues team with U-46 to coach P.E. teachers in SEL strategies
Paul Wright believes in the affirming power of promoting social and emotional learning (SEL) through sport and other physical activities to position students on better paths toward success. Sure enough, it’s the major focus of the Physical Activity and Life Skills (PALS)
Read morePaul Wright co-edits book on social, emotional learning in P.E. programs
Paul Wright, NIU’s EC Lane and MN Zimmerman Endowed Professor in Kinesiology and Physical Education, is celebrating the recent publication of ”Teaching Social and Emotional Learning in Physical Education.” Copyrighted by the Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE America) and published
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 moreClever solution, good relationships allow P.E. majors to visit schools for clinicals
Getting pre-service teachers into K-12 schools for clinical experiences during COVID-19 isn’t easy. But Zach Wahl-Alexander, assistant professor of pedagogy in the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education, has engineered just that for NIU P.E. majors. Wahl-Alexander worked the phones this spring,
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