Earlier this month, we had a very special guest at the Move2Learn Teens Club at Casa Chirilagua: Emilio Bernal, the 92-year-old grandfather of Rebeca Gore, M2L’s community engagement manager! Emilio is an accomplished ping pong player, having won a number of various championships and a senior Olympic title in the sport!
Emilio shared some of his game secrets to the Alexandria public middle school students. Equipped with new skills, they challenged him 2 v. 1 for some friendly competition. He even played with Casa’s new executive director, Hjarman Cordero! Might come as no surprise, but Emilio, who hails from Cuba, made his opponents sweat. 🙂
Emilio Bernal, left, is pictured here with his grandaughter and Move2Learn team member, Rebeca Gore.Emilio challenges Casa Chirilagua Executive Director Hjarman Cordero at some ping pong!Emilio and Hjarman take a break from their game to get their photo taken.
The Teens Club at Casa is one of 20 Move2Learn’s Outside the Classroom Programs. These clubs are so important for the well-being and social-emotional health of our students and key to their academic growth. They also address top school priorities: 1) school attendance; 2) student focus; 3) student behavior; and 4) mental health.
This club, like all of our clubs, comes at no cost—meaning no financial barriers. We make sure our students have everything they need to participate, even things like running shoes and sports bras. Clubs take place right at school—or in this case at Casa—meaning no transportation barriers, either.
All that goodness combined with our bonus guest = priceless:) We love the intergenerational exchange and were happy that the students could learn about the mind-body connection from someone with over 75 years of experience!
Alexandria City Public School Principal Michael Routhouska (pictured above in back) spends his Thursday afternoons coaching lacrosse to 10 to 15 fourth and fifth graders who are members of the Move2Learn Lacrosse Club at a Title 1 elementary school. His co-coach is Wanda Weaver, pictured on left, a primo counselor at the school.
To participate in the club, students must have good attendance and be keeping up with their grades. It’s a good incentive because the students love to play! Principal Routhouska says he hopes these same kids will play at the high school level where he coaches as well.
As with all of our Outside the Classroom programs and clubs, the lacrosse club plays a big role in the well-being and social-emotional health of our students and are key to their academic growth. Why does this matter? Teacher-led OST programs are effective in improving academic performance and have been shown to measurably improve student outcomes with demonstrably higher grades.
Students in these programs show increased positive self-perception as well as a reduction in risky behavior, depression and delinquency— leading to better personal outcomes in school and life.
Some of what makes our programming unique:
Most students participating are hand-selected by their teachers because they’ve been identified as struggling in school, making our programs part of a student’s success plan;
Our programs are led by our school partners who have key relationships with students and know and understand their complex needs; and
Our OST programs incorporate social, emotional and academic lessons to teach students how to recognize and manage stress and other strong emotions by using movement.
These emerging lacrosse players are having fun and developing good disciplined skills both on and off the field. Nice job, everyone!
It’s hard to believe it has been 15 years that we’ve had the honor of serving our community to transform the way our students learn, to reach their highest potential. Since 2009, we’ve been using movement to inspire tens of thousands of Alexandria public school students. Our awesome students are a diverse group with wide socio-economic and cultural backgrounds.
Today, Move2Learn is focused on three main buckets: Inside the Classroom and Outside the Classroom to create a healthy space for learning as well as a sense of belonging; and our Social, Emotional and Academing Learning lessons to help students help themselves so they understand the emotions that get in their way of learning and then how to use movement to overcome.
We celebrated our Mile Marker 15 anniversary celebration October 5th, 2024, with friends and supporters, new and old, of Move2Learn. Everyone had a blast. Enjoy the slideshow below from the party! (Photo credit: Shaughn Cooper) Then take a watch of our MM15 video featuring M2L Brooke Sydnor Curran and our students!
Brooke, 4th from right, with her Move2Learn Mile Marker 15 staff and volunteers!
One of our guests of honor and Move2Learn supporter since the beginning, Elizabeth Lucchesi of The LizLuke Team.
Move2Learn board member, Nicole McGrew, left, with Heather Peeler, Act For Alexandria president and CEO, our second guest of honor for being there with M2L since the beginning. To the right of Heather in the background is none other than Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson.
The scene from the top of the stairs.
Our awesome DJ kept the dancing going.
Brooke is pictured here with Dr. Michelle Rief, chair of the ACPS school board.
Raven Greene, 2nd from left, addressed the crowd with remarks about her experience as a M2L movement mentor and M2L yoga club. That's her mom to her left, along with Sara VanderGoot, co-owner of Mind the Mat Pilates and Yoga studios, and her son.
Front: Emily Porterfield, ACPS teacher and M2L movement mentor, and her husband, M2L board member, Mike Porterfield. On the left are longtime friends and supporters of M2L, Julie Carey and Mike Tackett. In between Emily and Mike is Melissa Riddy from Inova.
Longtime Move2Learn supporters, David and Diann Frantz, took their seats front and center on two of our classroom accordion stools, one of the most popular pieces of our Active Seating Packages.
Pictured here L to R: Elizabeth Bennett Parker, Virginia state delegate; Suzie Russell, M2L volunteer; Dr. Michelle Rief, ACPS School Board chair; Ashley Simpson Baird, ACPS school board member; Dr. Grace Taylor, chief of staff, ACPS; Dave Keen, CFO, American Physical Therapy Association; Christine Freidburg, director, Griswold Home Care
Brooke poses with Gene Steuerle, founder of ACT for Alexandria.
Mayor Justin Wilson, middle, watching the bidding with Mary Miller, M2L volunteer, left, and Marc Miller, M2L board member, right.
Brooke shares the "stage" with Shawn McLaughlin, longtime M2L supporter in his auctioneer role to bid off fabulous items for our cause.
Our friend, Tommy White, bids on an awesome auction package.
Closing out the party with a last dance of the evening is Heidi Vatanka, left, and Kesha Stephenson-Frazier, right, of Parker Gray Pediatric Dental Care.
It’s hard to believe it has been 15 years that we’ve had the honor of serving our community to transform the way our students learn, to reach their highest potential. Since 2009, we’ve been using movement to inspire tens of thousands of Alexandria public school students. Our awesome students are a diverse group with wide socio-economic and cultural backgrounds.
Today, Move2Learn focused on three main buckets: Inside the Classroom and Outside the Classroom to create a healthy space for learning as well as a sense of belonging; and our Social, Emotional and Academing Learning lessons to help students help themselves so they understand the emotions that get in their way of learning and then how to use movement to overcome.
We celebrated our Mile Marker 15 anniversary celebration October 5th, 2024, with 85+ friends of Move2Learn. Everyone had a blast. After you enjoy our MM15 video (below) with a brief look-back/ahead with M2L founder, president and CEO, take a look at pics from the party!
The 2024-25 school year for Alexandria public schools is in full swing, literally, thanks to Move2Learn programming, including our active seating for classrooms and our social and emotional lessons using movement.
We’re also outside the classroom with our Out of School Time clubs that are ramping up! These clubs are great motivators to get students to school on time and to stay there. That’s so important, because if a student isn’t at school, they aren’t learning.
The clubs—everything from walking and running, to cricket and boxercise, to yoga and dance—create a space for students to “belong,” building strong relationships and trust between students and their teachers. Because it takes place right at school, transportation isn’t an issue. AND, like all of our programming, it’s 100% free, removing the cost barrier.
Rebeca Gore fills a new position for us, Community Engagement Manager
These students are members of the M2L boxercise club at Hammond Middle School.
These girls at George Washington Middle School are members of the M2L Garden Club.
These students are members of the M2L’s Prexie Dancers at George Washingtonn Middle School.
Big Changes
So much goodness is going on for our OST programming. For starters, we have a new community engagement manager, Rebeca Gore, who’ll be able to provide even more onsite support to our program leaders. She’ll also have the opportunity to really get to know our students and provide real-time feedback on how things are going for everyone.
Rebeca, who is bilingual in English/Spanish, comes to us from Casa Chirilagua where she was director of youth leadership. Find out more about her>>
Some Highlights
We have 20 clubs total, with seven new and 13 returning.
We’re bringing our OST clubs to two new schools: Cora Kelly School for Math, Science and Technology and Patrick Henry Middle School.
We’re partnering with Casa Chirilagua to bring ping pong, yoga and dance clubs that will serve Hispanic middle schoolers this fall.
About 600 students will get moving and learning—and having fun! We’re providing a lot more snacks this year to ward off the hungries.
Many of our program leaders are selecting or have selected students to participate who are having a hard time in school–maybe it’s with their grades, behavior or attendance.
Our New Clubs
Functional Fitness for Students and Families, Cora Kelly. This will be led by M2L’s movement mentor. The opportunity will allow us to fully engage with Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth and build our family network.
Girls Walking Club, Hammond Middle School. This is led by a school counselor who selects a dozen or so girls to “walk and talk” during lunch.
Boys and Girls Cricket Clubs, International Academy, Alexandria City High School. The cricket clubs mostly serve students from Afghanistan. We’ve purchased wickets and filler dirt for Chinquapin Field. The boys meet one day and the girls another.
Boys and Girls Wrestling Clubs, James K. Polk Elementary School. A male teacher leads the boys and a female paraprofessional leads the girls. We’re still getting everyone outfitted with wrestling shoes, but they’re having fun!
Girls Workout Club, Patrick Henry Middle School. This unique program will get girls moving with weights, running, yoga, games and more. They’ll also read “Women in Sports” together for discussion.
Girls Cycle Club, Patrick Henry. We’ve purchased, delivered and assembled nine indoor spin bikes. If they have more than eight students interested, leaders will add a “mat” component so the girls can take turns.
Yoga and Pilates Mat Club, Patrick Henry.
Our Returning Clubs
‘Our returning OST clubs include soccer, lacrosse, dance, running, walking, step and boxercise. The popular stationary bike/water pump/garden club is also making a return!
These well-established clubs are being run by the same ACPS staff, so it’s a pretty seamless effort.
We’ve purchased a ton of athletic shoes, socks, lacrosse gear, backpacks, t-shirts, fitness trackers—whatever studentns need for their activities!
Rebeca Gore is Move2Learn’s Community Engagement Manager. She develops relationships in managing our partnerships and programs with ACPS and community partners to ensure more young people have the opportunity to be their fully healthy selves.
Prior to joining Move2Learn in the fall of 2024, Rebeca worked for Casa Chirilagua as their director of youth leadership where she collaborated with different partners and volunteers to lead the youth programs and events.
She is a College of William and Mary graduate, with a bachelor’s of science in Kinesiology Health Sciences with a concentration in Public Health. Early in her professional life, she taught nutrition education for three years at a District of Columbia public school and Health and Family Life Education internationally with the Peace Corps in Guyana.
Rebeca, who now lives in Alexandria, is a community advocate, an athlete and a Washington, D.C. native who loves getting to serve and be across the river from where she grew up.
The Dog Days of Summer haven’t slowed us down here at Move2Learn. We’re taking advantage of them to get our teachers and students ready for the school year!
You may remember that last month we awarded dozens of Alexandria public school teachers Move2Learn Active Seating Packages they’ll use in their classrooms this coming school year. So this month, we got to work ordering the seating—totaling 1,208 pieces. That’s 321 accordion stools, 228 wobble cushions, 600 fidget bands, 35 under desk pedals, 20 balance ball chairs and 4 bike desks!
That means nearly 900 more of our Alexandria public school students, K-12, will have the opportunity to move about naturally to help them feel and learn their best in school. Because that’sthe science of movement! What’s more, 68 of the 79 teachers receiving the packages didn’t yet have any active seating in their rooms, so this’ll be a game changer for them and their students.
Students really enjoy using our active seating and can feel the positive impact it has on them. The outcomes for something so simple are huge for mental health, classroom behavior and academic success, not to mention reducing absenteeism.
More Bennies
Other benefits include—
Helping students stay in the classroom, because they can move in ways that don’t distract the class. And as we all know, movement helps grow our brain cells so we learn better.
Helping teachers actually do their jobs, and that’s to teach! Since the pandemic, public schools across the country have seen a 56% increase in classroom disruption. Active seating directly counteracts this increase.
Reducing teacher stress by reducing classroom disruptions. Stress is one of the top reasons why teachers leave the profession altogether.
Improvements in behavior and academic performance as well as a decrease in teacher stress are all key performance indicators schools care about. And active seating contributes to all of these positive outcomes.
Dozens of teachers got a jump start on the 2024-25 school year recently when we awarded them with Move2Learn Active Seating Packages for their classrooms! That means nearly 900 more of our Alexandria public school students, K-12, will have the opportunity to move about naturally to help them feel and learn their best in school.
Because that’s the science of movement!
What’s more, about two-thirds of these teachers didn’t yet have any active seating in their rooms, so this’ll be a game changer for them and their students. Another handful of our teachers were committed to the power of movement through our other programs but they, too, didn’t yet have active seating. Now they do…win-win-win!
Our Active Seating Packages—like accordion stools, wobble cushions, under-desk pedals, and balance ball chairs—are our longest running and most sought after program. They are a key step in building deeper relationships with our teachers and students, encouraging everyone to move to learn.
We’re spending the summer ordering the seating so we can be ready to deliver in time for the start of school!
Outside the Classroom
In other news, our Outside the Classroom programming continues to grow in popularity as is the number of schools participating! Next year, we have 18 returning Move2Learn Clubs and five new clubs at two schools that’ll be new to the program: Patrick Henry K-8 School and Cora Kelly School for Math, Science and Technology.
The clubs at Patrick Henry include–
Yoga & Pilates for middle schoolers;
Middle school girls’ indoor Cycling Club (using Move2Learn stationary bikes);
Middle school girls’ Workout Club; and
Sports Mix for elementary girls and boys.
At Cora Kelly, we’re offering Functional Fitness for students AND their entire families! This is a first for us and we’re super excited.
Social, Emotional and Academic Learning
Ahead of the school year, we’ll also be spending the summer developing “SEAL on the Sideline” to give to our Outside the Classroom program leaders, making it super easy for them to put the power of movement into action at any time!
All of our programs operate individually and as a whole to build a culture of movement and keep students moving and learning their best, with SEAL—Social, Emotional and Academic Learning—as the glue that binds it all together.
Through our lessons, students learn the “whys’’ of movement, and, whether they’re using active seating or participating in movement clubs, they’re learning the “hows.” And our programming is for students of all abilities.
Sitting while reading? Feeling tired, distracted, maybe a bit cranky? Come along with us for a quick and fun brain boost: Standing or sitting, do 10 to 15 alternating high knees. Rest, repeat. Notice any difference in how you feel? More refreshed and ready to focus and read? That’s exactly what our students do to feel and learn at their best.😊
Why? Because movement ignites the brain and releases those “feel good” brain chemicals, known as endorphins, to help improve mood and energy levels. Together, these positive effects help to improve self-confidence and resilience. In other words, it’s good for your mental health.
Why are we talking about mental health? For one, May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Observed since 1949, its purpose is to raise awareness and educate the public.
Earlier this month, Move2Learn’s Program Director Jen Wiser met with Alexandria City High School students who are members of the Mental Health Matters Club.
For another, all of Move2Learn’s programming revolves around the all-important body-mind connection, a key factor in mental health.
That’s why the Alexandria public school system asked us to bring our role of movement to their social, emotional and academic learning. We developed and are now teaching the benefits of movement on emotions to all ACPS students, K-12.
We teach students the science behind the mind-body connection, to identify a variety of emotions that often stand in the way of learning, and to practice simple movements and deep breathing techniques aimed at mitigating negative emotions and re-focusing on learning.
Speaking of students and the mind-body connection, we were excited to join the student-led Mental Health Matters Club at Alexandria City High School this month. We were encouraged by our conversations with students about mental health, and shared simple movements (and M2L toolkits!) to work through stress, anxiety and other emotions.
Helping our students feel and learn their best through movement is what we do all year long.
Garden clubs. Ping pong. Basketball. Volleyball. We’re able to offer all of that goodness and more, thanks to a generous grant made to Move2Learn by the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth!
Under the grant, led by Program Director Jen Wiser and Project Manager Arturo Yaggia on the Move2Learn side, we’ve formed a community coalition to serve underserved middle school Hispanic youth in Alexandria city, with programming aimed at moving more, reducing stress with mindfulness and improving nutrition. Called the “Healthy Community Action Team,” or HCAT, the group includes Casa Chirilagua, INOVA Healthy Plate Club, Neighborhood Health, ACPS and Mind the Mat Pilates & Yoga.
We hired Arturo, a native Spanish speaker, under the grant, and he’s indispensable to our efforts. The team meets monthly to discuss programming and ideas that have resulted in really cool activities.
They turned the soil, planted the seeds, weeded the beds and watered using a bicycle-powered watering system. They learned about nutrition, the environment and the seasonal growth of lettuce, all while reaping the additional benefits of movement and sunshine!
Yoga and Other Mindfulness Activities
Other aspects of the VFHY grant covered the school’s Move2Learn Yoga Club, organized by teacher Maritza Acosta. She identified the 12 participating Latina students as having potential but who need support, nurturing and guidance.
Ms. Acosta also ran the M2L Walking Club last year with the same girls.
An instructor from Mind the Mat Pilates & Yoga the Tuesday morning yoga. The INOVA Healthy Plate Club provided nutritional education, specifically around a healthy breakfast to coincide with the morning yoga hour.
Next Up
We’re at Casa Chirilagua every Tuesday for the next few weeks for after-school basketball, ping pong and volleyball. Students set goals for themselves to work on a particular skill like serving a volleyball or ping pong ball or mastering the layup. They get moving and enjoy healthy snacks before heading home.
Basketball Coach Kwashie (left) and his basketball team; Ping Pong Coach Daniele with his ping pong team; and M2L Program Director Jen with Coach Bowser’s volleyball team.
Lower left: The coaches include Prince Kwashie (L), our Movement Mentor at Patrick Henry, for basketball; Luke Daniele, a former youth probation officer, for ping pong; and Madison Louise Bowser, a former volleyball player for Texas A&M! M2L’s Arturo is wearing the USA t-shirt. Lower right: M2L board member, Bryan Montgomery, pictured here with Coach Bowser, came by to see what it’s all about!
In addition to the coaches, we supplied a portable volleyball net and balls as well as paddles, balls and a net for ping pong.
We hope to extend our work with these students into the summer!
Keep up with news and events effecting our Move2Learn Community.
is now
Brooke Sydnor Curran, president and CEO of Move2Learn and the former “runner” of RunningBrooke, shares the story behind our new name and look.
Hecho de la diversión
Tararea tres notas de la mayoría de las canciones de rock/pop en la radio entre 1965 y 1983 y ¡lo nombraré!
Brooke Sydnor Curran
Presidenta y CEO
Empecé a correr cuando era padre de tres niños pequeños para pasar un tiempo a solas. Todavía corro porque es una buena carrera y es una excelente manera de comenzar mi día: pienso mucho durante esas primeras horas de la mañana. Cuando termino, me siento concentrado y listo para enfrentar el mundo.
Hoy en día, la ciencia respalda la evidencia de que correr y el ejercicio en general mejoran no solo la salud emocional, sino también el flujo de sangre al cerebro, lo que facilita concentrarse en la tarea y aprender mejor. Esto es especialmente cierto para los niños en edad escolar, que pasan gran parte de su tiempo en las aulas y se espera que presten atención y hagan su trabajo.
Sin una salida para dirigir positivamente la energía y aumentar el flujo sanguíneo para apoyar la función cerebral, la concentración se resiente, lo que puede ser desastroso para muchos niños.
Mis años de primaria y secundaria
Sé lo que es ser el estudiante que no puede quedarse quieto, tiene dificultades para concentrarse y escuchar al maestro. Ese era yo de niño. Siempre me llamaban por interrumpir el salón de clases. No fue hasta que fui adulto que entendí la relación positiva entre el movimiento y el aprendizaje.
Miro hacia atrás a esos años y los efectos persistentes con empatía por esa niña, pero sé que no estaba, y no está, sola.
