THE FOUNDATION

The Eugene Health and Performance Foundation, incorporated in March 2001 as a 501c3 non-profit foundation, is located in Eugene, Oregon.

GOALS

  1. Teaching Students
  2. Guiding Runners
  3. Coaching Athletes
  4. Sharing Knowledge
  5. Disseminating Research
  6. Conducting Studies

MyPE

Regular moderate exercise improves the immune system, reduces stress and the risk of heart disease and cancer. It also contributes to the changes in the brain, enabling you to think more clearly and learn more effectively.

It is important that people develop the habit of physical activity early in life, as research reveals that regularly active young people are more likely to be regularly active adults. Currently in Oregon, about 40% of 8th graders, and over 50% of all eleventh graders fail to participate in minimum levels of physical activity recommended by the Centers for Disease Control. This leads to statistics like we have now: 1) 24.5% of 8th graders are overweight or are at risk of becoming overweight, 2) 59% of adults are obese or are overweight, and 3) the medical cost of obesity to Oregon citizens is about $781 million per year.

Schools are unable to provide enough quality physical education to help kids develop this habit. For example, Oregon elementary schools average just 15 minutes of PE a day. Three significant obstacles prevent schools from providing enough PE:

  • Facilities are too few and too small.
  • Schools can't afford enough PE teachers.
  • Since schools feel they need to stress reading, math and writing — and are rated based on test scores in those areas — they curtail time dedicated to physical education.

At the same time, more than 60 percent of the nation's children between the ages of 9 and 13 don't participate in any physical activity during non-school hours.

The challenge facing community leaders, educators and parents is this: how do we make sure that all children develop the habit of making physical activity an intelligent, productive and enjoyable part of their lives?

The Eugene Health and Performance Foundation has developed the MyPE program to address this challenge. MyPE is a scientifically based system that helps individuals set personally appropriate physical activity goals and plan to achieve these goals in a safe, effective and enjoyable way. Captain John Butterfield, USN, former executive director of the President's Council for Physical Fitness, calls the program "the next major step in fitness guidance."

The primary goals of MyPE are to encourage young people to develop the habit of physical activity, help schools monitor the daily physical activity of each student, and engage parents to support and even share in the physical activity of their children.

In the past year, the Eugene Health and Performance Foundation has taken several steps toward implementing MyPE. We have met with and received the support of a variety of educational and community leaders. We have formed a team of experienced educators to refine the program and guide its implementation. We have reviewed relevant research, identified the characteristics of successful interventions, and used that understanding to refine MyPE. We have secured the cooperation of the University of Oregon's Department of Human Physiology to help us study the program's impact. We have also secured the commitment of three local elementary schools to pilot MyPE, and are actively pursuing additional pilot and control schools.

We expect that the MyPE program will help us achieve our mission by having these measurable impacts:

  • 75% of students in the test group will consistently get 60 minutes of daily physical activity.
  • 25% of parents whose children are in MyPE schools will participate in their own MyPE activity program.
  • 50% of teachers and staff at MyPE schools will participate in their own MyPE activity program.
  • Students in MyPE schools will improve by 15% more than students in control schools on select fitness and health tests.