November 30, 2015
For the past three weeks, we have brought you information on our Texas 2015 CATCH Champions, who CATCH will be honoring at the Texas Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance Conference next week in Dallas. Today, we present our Living Legacy award recipient for 2015, Pam Tevis.
The Living Legacy Award honors a past CATCH Champion and celebrates the legacy they have left in their tireless effort to making a difference in the health of children, families and their school community. The honoree is a leader who has chartered a course of change, created a culture of expectations and inspired countless others. We interviewed Pam on her experience with CATCH.
Tell us a highlight from your career with the CATCH program?
Receiving the Outstanding Coordinator from the Steps Consortium for the CATCH Project (2005-2008), the CATCH Champion 2010 and the Living Legacy Award have all been highlights that have made me very proud. However, what has truly been the highlight is the journey to get coordinated school health, specifically CATCH, where it is the common language in schools. It has been difficult to gain the necessary traction for coordinated school health, but our district made a huge commitment by hiring a full time coordinated school health specialist. We have a Campus health advisory council at each campus K-8 that oversees the CATCH program providing the buy in for sustainability. Some of our schools are seeing the benefits of consistent implementation of CATCH.
What’s your favorite CATCH physical activity?
I am blessed to have opportunities to see many of the CATCH activities throughout the district. My favorite ones are the activities dealing with nutrition. For most of our students this is the only way they gain the knowledge and tools to make informed decisions about what they eat. Watching children do physical activity games learning about nutrition and seeing them “get it” is so gratifying because it empowers them to make good decisions about nutrition which will last for a lifetime.
Tell us one piece of advice for parents seeking to create a healthy home environment for their children?
As it says in a commercial on TV, “The days are long, but the years are short.” Take the time to enjoy and “play” with your children. Teach them how to be responsible for themselves and others around them. Raise a child you can be proud of when they are an adult.
Curious to learn more about Pam? Hear her 2012 webinar with fellow CATCH Champion Angela Rubio (neé Balch) here.
Pam was also celebrated in her local paper, the Pasadena Citizen!
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