Kung fu comes to Southwest Charter School

By Shasta Kearns Moore

The Southwest Community Connection, Mar 1, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Shasta Kearns Moore / The Southwest Community Connection

Third-grader Henry Latendresse practices his punch with martial arts teacher Lara Hubschmitt during the Southwest Charter School’s martial arts class. The weekly class gives students a measure of self-confidence in addition to teaching an alternative method of physical activity.

SOUTH PORTLAND — Though the average elementary school teacher likely spends a good deal of time breaking up fights in the classroom, one school in Southwest Portland is looking at how to teach its children ancient fighting techniques to improve their concentration and self-confidence.

The Academy of Kung Fu has partnered with Southwest Charter School on Hood Avenue to bring students weekly instruction on martial arts as part of its physical education program.

The small school’s staff and parents are excited about the program and say they are already seeing the benefits.

On a day that parent Helen DeVol came in to volunteer, she watched as her son, Sammy, enthusiastically moved through the poses. DeVol said the second-grader is involved with a lot of sports teams but he enjoys the individual challenge of Kung Fu and often teaches his siblings the forms. She said that she has noticed a mental shift in her son in the few short months since the program began.

“There’s more of that drive to challenge himself individually,” she said.

The school’s interim education director, Anne Gurnee, said the charter school made the decision to augment traditional physical education methods and team sports with martial arts and dance in order to expose the children to exercises with practical applications.

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