Island kids race for the prize
Shelter Island elementary school students need your votes for their video to win physical education equipment.
When elementary school students took to the stage recently to show off their talents in both physical education and music, they didn’t know the video of the event could qualify them to win a contest that could net the school money for physical education equipment.But that’s where they find themselves today, competing in a “Get Moving New York” contest, initially at the county level and if they win that, at the New York State level.
The idea of the program initially was to do a cross-over between the music and physical education departments in staging a program that would enable students to display their physical education abilities.
Then Todd Gulluscio, Director of Physical Education and District Operations at the school, got word of the contest this week at a meeting of the Suffolk County Physical Education & Health Directors meeting and immediately thought the video was worthy of an entry.
Music teacher Jessica Bosak and physical education department’s Rick Osmer and Brian Becker, who had organized the video, all agreed.
“We’re excited to be a part of this,” Mr. Gulluscio said. But to lift the school from its current fifth place to first means motivating Islanders to view the brief video on line and vote “often” for the students.
Because Shelter Island is competing with much larger districts it’s important to motivate as many Islanders as possible to vote frequently to lift these kids to victory, he said. There is no limit to the number of times you can vote.
The winning Suffolk County team will not only go on to compete in the New York State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, but will win cash prizes at the county level.
The first place winner will receive $1,000 for the purchase of physical education equipment through Flaghouse, a sports and physical education equipment supplier. A $500 prize will go to the second place team and a $250 prize to the third place team, also to be used for equipment from Flaghouse.
Just how the district might spend the money hasn’t yet been decided, Mr. Gulluscio said.
Voting on the web is open until Friday, but it’s the same tight deadline for all competing schools, he said.
To access the video and vote for Shelter Island kids, visit nysahperd.org and click on the link for Zone Conference and then the link for Suffolk Zone. Scroll down on that page for the Get Moving New York contest to access the video and the page to register your vote(s) for Shelter Island.
“Vote early and often,” Mr. Gulluscio said.
