Naperville Central High School
440 West Aurora Ave, Naperville, IL 60540
Paul Zientarski
About Paul:
Paul is the department chair for Physical Education, Health, and Driver Education. He's been teaching for 36 years total, and has been teaching with Polar technology for the last 12 years. He's a member of National AAHPERD, Assistant Director PE4LIFE Naperville Academy, and also part of the Illinois High School Coaches Association. In addition to that he is a consultant for X2 Youth Fitness Centers and a part of the Organizing Committee for DuPage County PE Institute.
About Naperville Central High School:
Naperville is part of Naperville Community Unit School District in Naperville, Illinois. In this suburban area the typical P.E. class size is 36 students. Students are in grade levels 9-12. For the last 12 years at Naperville teachers have been using Polar heart rate monitors (HRMs) in class, and have also been using the TriFIT system for the last ten years. Naperville is also a PE4Life Academy.
Core Activities:
Paul uses team sports, teambuilding, individual sports and fitness activities to teach physical education at his school
Using Polar:
The 2005 PEP grant, 2004 Congresswoman Judy Biggart Community grant, and 2000 & 2001 Naperville Education Foundation grants provided the funding for Naperville Central High to use Polar technology. Paul incorporates Polar in his lesson plans at least once a week and sometimes more often than that. Naperville started using Polar when various school officials heard Beth Kirkpatrick speak. At first, Paul ordered 5 E200s and an XL to try teaching with heart rate. After the first year he knew he wanted to have a classroom set to be able to track each student individually. He was able to get parents and the community involved, and they raised enough money to buy another ten HRMs. The school PTA matched the money for another ten and successfully lobbied the Board of Education to match the ten as well. For Paul, the most important reasons to use Polar are, "helping students know the level of effort needed to be fit cardio wise, the longitudinal study of student fitness levels, and discovering problems at an early age stage to set up intervention."
The Buzz:
Paul likes Polar's "ease of use, data collection capabilities, and student accountability."
Administration likes "data collection and student accountability."
Personal Highlight: Paul says, "Based on the TriFIT data, our students are far ahead of the norm for fitness levels when compared nation wide."