ELLERBE — Even before the first block bell at Ellerbe Middle School rings each morning, dozens of students have broken a sweat and a smile.
That’s thanks to Allen Adeimy’s intramural sports program, which gives Wildcat students a chance to compete and build a plethora of life skills every morning throughout the school year. In his eighth year as Ellerbe’s physical education teacher and athletic director, Adeimy has used his intramural program the past four years to better the school experience of hundreds of students.
During each nine-week period, students sign up to participate in a variety of intramural seasons. Some of the sports Adeimy, affectionately known as “Coach” around campus, has implemented include basketball, indoor soccer, volleyball, handball and floor hockey, among others.
As the success of the program continues to grow, Adeimy has decided to put it to further use to help not only make Ellerbe a stronger learning environment, but also hopefully make other middle schools across the state better.
Adeimy, who is also the school’s baseball coach and assists with all of its athletic programs, is entering his fourth year of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s Doctorate of Education in Kinesiology online degree program. In his first three years, he’s already successfully completed over 40 hours of coursework at the doctoral level and has made the transition from “doctoral student” to “doctoral candidate.”
The only thing separating Adeimy from earning the formal title of “Doctor” in front of his name is writing an approved dissertation.
In order to complete his dissertation, Adeimy must complete a research study in his respective field. Following the research process, he’s required to submit and present his findings to the Dissertation Committee at UNC-Greensboro. While he’s in the beginning stages, Adeimy noted it’s a “complex process” that could last between one to five years.
“My research study and dissertation will focus on Ellerbe Middle School’s in-school intramural sports program and its effects on school improvement,” Adeimy explained. “Each school in the district (and state) is required to develop and submit a ‘school improvement plan,’ which is designed to address state, district and school mandates, strategies and issues that improve the overall experience and education of North Carolina students.
“This plan is developed by a team of administrators and staff members at each school, and is visited and updated each year to address specific needs and new mandates,” he added. “Our intramural program has been running for four years now, and has been used as a strategy to influence improvement in areas at Ellerbe including student attendance and behavior on past school improvement plans.”
Adeimy added that although the success and student interest level has led to a “solid program that has experienced great support, participation and has become a staple at the school,” no formal research has been conducted to assess whether the program has any legitimate, data-backed success in contributing to improvement in the areas of student attendance, academic performance, fitness and behavior.
Adeimy’s research study and dissertation plan on doing just that, using data collection, statistical testing, activity observation and student interviews to discover exactly where and how the program contributes to school improvement.
“The big picture of conducting the study is to continue to develop and improve upon an intramural program, or another activity program, that middle school students can participate in that contributes to the overall improvement of the middle school experience,” Adeimy said. “We also want to see these programs contribute to our students’ overall success at Ellerbe.”
Adeimy’s study will be completed during the 2019-2020 school year. Students and parents at Ellerbe will be asked to complete and submit a “consent to participate” form to allow Adeimy to conduct the study during intramurals this year. He noted it’s imperative that students and parents give permission to participate in the program and study, as it’s a requirement of UNC-Greensboro’s Institutional Review Board (IRB).
The IRB “assures proper ethics, methods and storage of information and data within a research study.” Adeimy said parents should be on the lookout for the forms, which will be sent home with students explaining the study and purpose with areas for parents and students to sign and return to school.
Adeimy will need the parents and students of Ellerbe to help in completing this study, and asks that parents of students who wish to participate in intramurals to return the forms as soon as possible.
In additional ROSports articles, a full description of the Ellerbe Middle School intramural program will be provided and updates and results of the study will be shared with the community.
Allen Adeimy contributed to this article.
