Brooks-Produced Video Rated One of State's Best in Bone Health Contest

A 60-second informational video clip featuring Brooks Middle School students is one of the top prize winners in the Illinois Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (IAHPERD) “Bone Health” video contest.

The Brooks video, produced and directed by physical education teacher David Burke just before the end of school last spring, finished fourth in the contest bringing a $600 stipend and a new set of jump ropes to the Bolingbrook school’s PE program.

“The contest was designed to promote the results of a study that showed high impact exercise by adolescents just 10-15 minutes a day, two to three times a week, can decreases your chances of getting osteoporosis by as much as 50% later in life,” Burke said, adding the challenge of the contest was to present this scientific information in a creative way.

“I wanted to make it musical but we had to be sure we stayed within the copy right rules,” he said. “So we used the Star Spangled Banner melody, and changed the lyrics.”

After Burke wrote the new lyrics, he enlisted the help of several dozen 7th Grade PE Leaders at Brooks to sing and perform the physical activities. With the assistance of lead vocalist Brynn Frantz (now a freshman at Bolingbrook High School) and the Brooks Middle School Band, it took two days to create the original audio and video tracks.

“Actually, we did all the video shooting in one class period,” he recalled. “We had a lesson plan that focused on high impact exercises.  This meant a lot of jumping, which was the focus of the study. We shot everything in three locations at Brooks.”

Burke, who has a background in video editing and has produced several instructional videos, pulled the multiple sound tracks and the edited video together into the cohesive minute-long piece that won the IAHPERD award.

He accepted the award at the group’s statewide conference last month.

“It was an honor for Brooks to get a state-level award like this,” he said. “We put a lot of work into it, and I’m really proud of our students.”

TO SEE THE VIDEO: You can watch Brooks Middle School's award-winning "Bone Health" video by clicking on this link.