Bourbon County, Kansas, Schools

Uniontown School District Receives $100,000 Grant For Fitness Center

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USD 235 staff and students who worked on the grant application for the fitness equipment for the district: front, from left: Betty Dennis, school nurse; Rhonda Hoener, school counselor; and Tara Gorman, teacher. Back row, from left: Vance Eden, teacher; Kolby Martinez, Zach Franklin and Cade Goodridge, students; Bret Howard, superintendent; Mark Calvin, high school principal and Tyler Jackman, elementary school principal. They are in the proposed room for the community fitness center, the junior high/high school library.

West Bourbon Elementary School Principal Tyler Jackman received an email from the Kansas Department of Education in late winter about an opportunity to provide a fitness center in the school district.

He got the green light from Superintendent Bret Howard to apply for the grant and enlisted the help of other district employees.

“The application process was simple,” Jackman said. “They wanted to know what equipment we had, what condition it was in.”

Teacher Vance Eden created a video of the need in the district and interviewed several employees.  Click below to view the video:

The grant application was due April 6, and on May 16 they received notice that the district received a $100,000 grant.

Governor Jeff Colyer and Jake Steinfeld, Chairman of the National Foundation for Governors’ Fitness Councils, announced three Kansas schools that were selected to each receive a DON’T QUIT! Fitness Center.

The multi-million-dollar physical fitness campaign named Lincoln Elementary School in Fredonia, Jardine Middle School in Topeka and Uniontown USD 235 in Uniontown as the state’s most outstanding schools for demonstrating leadership in getting and keeping their students fit.

“We are excited, this will be a great asset to our community,” Jackman said. “The community will have access.”

Tyler Jackman stands in the access door to the proposed community fitness room. The room is the former library of the junior high/high school, that is currently housing the USD 235 Board of Education. The outside access door is near the southeast corner of the room, which leads to the south parking lot of the school.

 The proposed site for the fitness center is the former school library at the junior high school, which is being underutilized, Jackman said.

Installation begins this summer and a public ribbon cutting will take place in early September, Howard said.

School starts in the district on August 30 this year, he said.

National Foundation for Governors’ Fitness Councils State of Kansas DON’T QUIT! Campaign initial requirements:

  • The school must be a public or public charter school.
  • The majority of students must be between the ages of 8-13 years old.
  • The school must have a preexisting room on the school’s property that is available for equipment installation during the summer of 2018.
  • The room must be approximately 900-1500 square feet.

  • The proposed fitness center will be in the junior high wing of USD 235 campus.

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