The railroad track runs next to the school. A cyclone fence topped with barbed wire surrounds an adjacent field. Dogs guard the backyards, so cutting through the alleys can be unnerving. The traffic at York Street and East Bruce Randolph Avenue is treacherous. It’s dark in the mornings. There are too many creeps racing through the school zones, shouting salacious remarks at the girls. It’s hard to wake up. It’s just hard.
On a brilliantly sunny morning, 30 or so kids from Greg Ahrnsbrak’s seventh-grade gym class are bobbing and weaving, bumping into one another and occasionally even paying attention as they assess the pros and cons of kid-powered transportation in their neighborhood.
They’re good at finding the cons.
The occasion was National Walk or Bike to School Day on Wednesday, but more significantly, Denver Public Schools was implementing a program to enhance fitness in north and west Denver under a Thriving Communities grant from Kaiser Permanente, Kroenke Sports Enterprises and other organizations. The kids from Bruce Randolph Middle School are in the first phase of an ambitious project to reduce obesity, increase fitness levels and improve academic achievement along the way.
Ahrnsbrak herds the group expertly. “Stay on the sidewalks. Quit swinging the pedometers. What are you seeing here? Do you think we need a crosswalk?”
The conscientious ones know a hint when they hear one and scribble frantically on their clipboards. They’re good students, attentive and determined.
I stick with the stragglers, who are dressed in the preteen uniform of huge T-shirts and pants so baggy they look like something from a tent and awning company. A couple of especially mischievous cutups try to play me as the group shortcuts through an alley.
“I like to walk to school,” said a smirking, teasing Darren Mills, who may actually have been telling the truth. “I bike because it’s cold, so it wakes me up for class,” said Andres Luna. His buddies convulse with laughter.
Truth be told, the only exercise most kids get is nagging their parents for rides.
There are only five bikes in the rack outside the school, and one of the kids who claimed to ride each day reached over to let a little air out of a tire as he walked by.
Did I mention this is seventh grade?
While the kids clearly have trouble contemplating their own mortality – or even next period – Ahrnsbrak tells them about the world of hurt ahead if they don’t change their lifestyles now.
In 13 years as a teacher, he has seen childhood obesity become epidemic. Last year, he said, 55 percent of the students in his classes at Baker Middle School were obese. They face a high risk of Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, arthritis and other chronic diseases, he told them.
Along with too much TV, video games and junk-food diets, the problem has been exacerbated by cuts in physical education. “It’s being done in the name of increasing student achievement. The districts want more time for math and reading,” he said.
“But it’s backfiring. I know. I’ve taught math and science. I know what it’s like to have a classroom full of kids who haven’t had any physical activity all day. They can’t concentrate.”
So Ahrnsbrak, with the support of the rest of the faculty at Randolph, is putting the kids through a mini-boot camp. Most have physical education class five days a week with weight-training programs, cardio and instruction in nutrition. They maintain year-long personal-fitness records to track their progress.
He intends to prove to them that they are stronger and faster than they realize. Along the way they’ll learn they are smarter, too.
“The entire staff is committed to this,” he said, as the gaggle of boistrous adolescents leaves the gym for their next class. “We’re going to do what everybody says is impossible. We’re going to take a low-income, mostly minority community and have them succeed.”
I’ll be cheering for them every step of the way.
Diane Carman’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. She can be reached at 303-820-1489 or dcarman@denverpost.com.
