University of the Ozarks Assistant Professor Brett Stone will receive the 2012 Leadership Award by the Arkansas Governor's Council on Fitness and Baptist Health during a special ceremony in Little Rock on Oct. 19.
Assistant Professor of Health and Physical Education Brett Stone has been named the 2012 Leadership Award recipient by the Arkansas Governor’s Council on Fitness and Baptist Health.
The award recognizes individuals and organizations whose efforts positively impact the health and fitness of Arkansans. Stone, who has taught health and physical education at Ozarks since 2008, is the 2012 recipient in the "Individual" category.
"It’s a tremendous honor to be recognized by the Arkansas Governor’s Council on Fitness and Baptist Health," Stone said.
According to the Council on Fitness, the award is given to "an outstanding individual or organization that serves as a role model epitomizing personal health and fitness and demonstrating enjoyment of activity and sportsmanship." Nominations are evaluated and scored on how well the information submitted met the category criteria. Evaluators look at the population affected, breadth of the efforts and demonstrated outcomes of those efforts.
Stone will receive the award at the organization’s annual awards banquet on Oct. 19 at The Peabody Hotel in Little Rock.
According to the nomination, Stone’s efforts in promoting health and physical activity are tireless.
"The contributions to the field of physical activity and health of Brett Stone are numerous," the nomination read. "He has helped develop curriculum and policy governing childhood health. He helped co-author a school based intervention for reduction of childhood obesity. He has been active in the state level in the development of physical education standards for the public school system. He works with college students at University of the Ozarks in teaching them the importance of stopping childhood obesity and that children need to be more physically active to stop this trend. He is committed to the education of our young people in being a healthier Arkansas."
Stone’s nomination letter specifically praised his efforts with school children.
"Brett Stone has presented workshops to colleagues to help develop a program called Recess with a Purpose in our schools," the nomination stated. "It is a program that gets kids actively involved at recess rather than just standing around visiting or causing discipline issues. It also integrates a healthy eating component into the program to teach students the importance of eating a healthy diet. He has presented programs at the Western Educational Co-op called Physical Education for Healthy Life Choices to inspire health teachers and classroom teachers to teach students about making life choices that will impact their health as they grow older."
Stone was also commended for his work in the Clarksville community.
"(He) actively works to create activities for youth, adults, seniors, and special population to become involved in physical activity by helping others develop grants for their physical education programs," according to the nomination. "He has helped build and written grants for a mountain bike trail in Clarksville, which is used not only by the Clarksville community, but also by surrounding communities as well. The trail gives young people, adults and seniors a place to ride that is safe from traffic and very well made. His service to the state and community is done so that he can help our state to become a healthier Arkansas."
In November 2011, Stone was named the recipient of the 2011 Higher Education Educator of the Year award by the Arkansas Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreations and Dance (ArkAHPERD) during its annual state convention. Stone, who is also a co-sponsor of the University’s Sports Shooting Club, earned his bachelor’s degree from Lyon College before earning master’s degrees in both adult education and public health from University of Arkansas. He is completing requirements for his Ph.D., from Walden University.
Topics: Education