Michael Lewis, right, gets help making a chart at the Aebersold Recreation Center from Slippery Rock University student Caleb Coppock. Coppock is mentoring Lewis in the I Can Do It, You Can Do It program run by the university. The goal of the program is to help the disabled stay physically active by pairing them with SRU students studying adapted physical therapy.

It can be difficult for anyone to stay physically active, but that's especially true for those who are disabled.

To help deal with this issue, at Slippery Rock University, students are paired with children and adults with disabilities in the I Can Do It, You Can Do It program.

The mentor/mentee program was started by the university in 2007. With the aid of federal grants, it is growing.

Through the initiative, students work one-on-one with more than 120 disabled youths and adults to increase their physical activities and promote good nutritional habits. They do this through various physical exercises.

In Western Pennsylvania the “Do It” program takes place at the Butler YMCA, the Grove City YMCA and the Aebersold Recreation Center (ARC) at SRU.

Students studying adapted physical activity begin working one on one with a mentee early in their program.

“First and foremost we are here to train students, so it's a great opportunity for them,” said Robert Arnhold, I Can Do It, You Can Do It program coordinator.

There are 125 students studying for the adapted physical activity minor in 17 different majors.

“We have a lot from the dance program because they want to start dance programs in different communities,” Arnhold said.

Students must produce goal settings and activity plans every week for their mentee.Typically students spend two days in the classroom and one day with their mentee, but others volunteer for the program.“You can't teach them what they get here, in the classroom,”Arnhold said.Mackenzie Maglic, senior health and physical education major, agrees with Arnhold.“You can sit in a classroom and get lectured on how to interact with people with disabilities, or anybody in general, but you really don't learn until you go out there,” Maglic said.The activity can be anything from swimming and running to lifting weights and even horseback riding, based on individual interests.“Some clients just excel in water and are miserable on land,” said instructor Wendy Fagan.When a child or adult with a disability decides to join the program, they sit down with mentors to figure out what type of activity would be best.It is a joint effort, client centered and community based according to Arnhold.One of Maglic's mentees needed help with his behavioral management.It was difficult at first for Maglic to find an activity to keep his attention until she introduced him to badminton.“He loved it, and I can keep him doing it for over a half an hour easily,” Maglic said. “He absolutely loves it. He's good at it.”When Maglic talked with the mentee's mother, she said she used to play badminton and planned to play the game with her son more often.<B>Matching</B>At the start of the semester, professors ask students to fill out a survey on what types of activities they enjoy, how comfortable they are around people with disabilities and what sports they have played.The mentor and mentee are then matched by the faculty/staff and graduate assistants in the APA program.Fagan has been working with these clients for the past eight years, so it's easy for her to make the matchups.“It's amazing how it all works out,” Fagan said.Fagan's class, Introduction to Adapted Physical Activity, works with adults with disabilities from Allegheny Valley School.The school transports the mentees to SRU each Friday morning to work with their mentor at the ARC.“I love this program,” Fagan said. “It's great for students to introduce them to disability without scaring them.”The intro class is sometimes the first time students work one on one with a person with disabilities.“Being a freshman and having such a hands-on experience so fast. I think it will really help in the end,” said Becky Searight, sophomore therapeutic recreation major. “I'll have so much experience working with so many different people by the time I graduate, that I won't be nervous to work with clients or with new people.”

While the introductory class meets at the ARC, 25 more advanced student mentors meet with their mentees at the Butler YMCA.“The students pretty much just ask the person they are working with what they'd like to do,” said Sandy Ihlenfeld, senior physical director at the Y. “They try to give them different opportunities. They also do pre and post assessments, so they try to determine if there is some kind of a change in their physical or cognitive skills.”Mentees in the program have been found to be more physically fit.Graduate students meet with mentor/mentee pairs as senior mentors.“It's more of being a mentor for the undergraduate mentor,” said Josh Lucas, a graduate student in the adapted physical activity program. “You're like a super mentor, so I guide them to help them with their program.”The YMCA does not charge a membership fee for those taking part in the program.“They just can't walk in and do,” Ihlenfeld said of the clients, “they really need someone to be with them, to suggest things and to watch over them in safety.”After seeing its success, the university was selected to start nine I Can Do It, You Can Do It sites across the United States through a grant with the National Institutes of Health and the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition.“The program is growing,” Ihlenfeld said. “We are a nationally approved site so Slippery Rock University uses us as one of their golden sites of mentoring. It's really nice to be considered a role model for other YMCAs.”

The I Can Do It, You Can Do It program is more than just physical, students and their mentees build friendships while working with one another.During his undergraduate years, Lucas was teaching a young boy to throw a football.Near the end of the semester they were in the middle of practice when the boy said “Are you my buddy?”“I said, ‘Yup, I'm your buddy' and that was really cool because as much as we are all about physical activities, this program is definitely about more,” Lucas said. “You are definitely a role model for these kids. They really look up to you.”Ihlenfeld has been working with the program at the Y for about five years and has witnessed some of the same relationships.“We've had a number that repeated so they've enjoyed it so much they asked to also be paired another year,” she said.Those involved with the program hope to see it grow nationally.“It's not just a program you do for credit,” Lucas said. “You actually do make a difference. Even if it's only 10 weeks and an hour a week, you do make a difference to a kid in that amount of time.”<B>JOINING FORCES</B>Slippery Rock University and the Butler YMCA are teaming up to hold Camp ROCK, Recreational Opportunities Connecting Kids, for youths with autism disorders and their peers.The camp is open on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 18 to 29 for those ages 14 to 21 at the YMCA Camp/ARMCO Park, Centreville Pike, Slippery Rock.High school peers will help students with autism, according to Elizabeth Kemeny, director of the Center on Disability and Health at SRU.The program is intended to build lifelong physical activity and social interaction skills.The camp is seeking peer mentors who can commit to the two-week program. Contact Kemeny, 724-738-4306 or at Elizabeth.kemeny@sru.edu

Graduate student Josh Lucas, mentee Michelle Englehart and mentor Alex DiMartino, from left, begin their routine with laps at the fitness center at the Butler YMCA. Graduate students serve as senior mentors for mentor/mentee pairs in the "do it" program.

Michelle Engelhart and mentor Alex DiMartino do dumb bell curls at the Butler YMCA.

I Can Do It, You Can Do It program client Jacob Shaftner enjoys activities in the pool at the Aebersold Recreation Center at Slippery Rock University.