RUMFORD — Mountain Valley High School still has traditional physical education classes, but lifetime pursuits classes teach students how to exercise, have fun and develop skills for life-long fitness.
During the fall, students in lifetime pursuits classes traveled to Bradbury Mountain State Park in Pownal to mountain bike. It is the only state park in southern Maine to offer shared-use trails for horseback riders, mountain bikers and snowmobilers. It also has a network of trails designed specially for mountain bikes.
Kristin Tyler and Todd Papianou teach lifetime pursuit classes. For the Bradbury Mountain trip, Ryan Nicols served as a student leader. He had previously participated in a mountain bike race at the park.
Nicols said, “I thought it was a cool trip because I learned about nature. I enjoyed seeing different terrain, rocks and trees.”
Another day, the lifetime pursuit classes hiked to the top of Whitecap Mountain in Rumford. They were joined by Tyler’s adventure programming class.
Senior Delany Paterson said, “I had never hiked Rumford Whitecap before. The hike itself was not too difficult, but the pace we had definitely got me breathing harder than normal. The whole hike, about four miles long, was definitely something to experience again.”
“Mountain biking and hiking are just two of the units in lifetime pursuits,” said Tyler. “We canoe and kayak when the weather and river level permits. Inside units include in-line skating and skate boarding. During the winter, we do snowshoeing, ice skating and cross-country skiing. Sometimes we even try some fly casting.”
Papianou said, “A Carol M. White Physical Education Program (PEP) grant paid for all this equipment and we’re glad to be able to provide students with life-long fitness skills. While the grant money has expired, we have the benefit of owning the equipment.”
Papianou added, “Lifetime pursuits is also about building skills. If you are good at something, you are more likely to continue doing it. Before we go on these adventures, we spend time acquiring the skills then we go and have fun doing it.”
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- Mountain Valley High School students biked to the top of Bradbury Mountain recently. From left are Katie Collette, Anthony Bucher, Robert Sanders, Zach Cross and Megan Chase.
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