By HOLLY WAGNER

Herald-Whig Staff Writer

Jennifer Oitker has been named the Young Professional Physical Education Teacher of the Year by the Illinois Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.

The award is for teachers with less than five years of experience and is given to only three other young professionals in Illinois.

Oitker, a PE teacher at Baldwin Intermediate School in Quincy, is president of the Western District of the Illinois Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. She'll accept the award at a convention in November.

In the past year, Oitker said, Baldwin has installed a climbing wall, added tennis to its curriculum, moved ahead in aligning physical education offerings districtwide, and promoted healthy lifestyle choices at school and home. The climbing wall was bought with community donations. It helps children develop self-esteem, upper-body strength and quick thinking, Oitker said.

"They have to make all these decisions in a split second (about where to place their hands and feet) and hold on at the same time," she said. "It's just amazing for them to know they did it."

Physical education was cut at Baldwin in 2004-05, and it's being slowly built back, Oitker said.

"We're trying each year to have new activities," she said.

PE teachers across the district are working together to make sure that Baldwin students can build on the skills they learned in elementary school, and those skills will form a foundation for what's taught at the junior high and high school levels.

At each grade, teachers are emphasizing healthy lifestyle choices.

"Not everything is scheduled around team sports," Oitker said. "They can be healthy just by themselves."

In the past few years, the district has partnered with the Cheryl Loatsch Studio to promote a Kids, Let's Move program involving family and community. Students have participated in the Bridge the Gap to Health walk and a family fun run/walk.

"It's very nice to have the recognition," Oitker said. "But it's also nice to know that as far as PE throughout the district, we're making a difference."

-- hwagner@whig.com/221-3374