Kirkwood Instructor Named P.E. Teacher of the Year

Physical education is a tradition in Lieschen Fink’s family. Both her grandfather and father taught high school P.E. before coaching college football, and her mother, a high school art teacher, coached sports as well.

But it’s Fink’s nontraditional approach to physical education that has garnered the teacher attention from her peers and what she believes led to her to being named the St. Louis High School Physical Education Teacher of the Year for 2011. She is now a candidate for the state level award.

When Fink came to Kirkwood from the Riverview Gardens Senior High School in 1992, she brought a dance curriculum with her that would quickly inspire a host of Pioneers.

“It became one of the hottest topics in the P.E. curriculum,” she said of the classes that includes ballet, tap, jazz, modern, hip-hop, line dancing and international dancing.

Two years ago, Fink again innovated physical education at KHS when she implemented a lifetime fitness program, in which students are exposed to yoga, tai chi and a variety of gym workouts.

“I think P.E. should be a lifetime thing that students do, and it doesn’t have to be traditional,” Fink said. “Not everyone’s an athlete. I think (the fitness activities) excite a lot of the kids, especially the artsy kids.”

Fink credits relating to more artistic students to her mom, the high school art teacher. For Fink, who said she grew up on the athletic field, she found her artistic outlet through dance.

“I was more of a tomboy growing up, but with the dance recitals, I did get a chance to dress up and have a little more artistic or feminine side at times,” she said.

Eighteen years into the KHS dance program, classes continue to be an overwhelming success with Pioneers, and now Fink is seeing a new dance class trend: the addition of boys.

Seventeen out of a total of 120 dance students last year were boys, in contrast to years past when only a few boys would sign up for the class, according to Fink. 

“A lot of them realize it’s so good for their athleticism,” Fink said. “The majority of kids are male athletes. I’m really proud of them.”

Fink noted that three students were on the boys volleyball team that recently won second place in the .

“The boys are really pretty cool about it," she said. "More are signing up and realize its great exercise and that girls just love a male that dances."

Whether it’s exposing teens to Hip-Hop dance or Tai Chi, a love of movement, in any form, is what inspires the P.E. teacher.

“I like to see the kids get excited when you introduce them to something different,” she said. “My philosophy with P.E. is that movement is the door to learning and that P.E. is the foundation of youth. It keeps you young.”

She advises those beginning their working lives to find a career that they love.

“If you love going to work, you’ll never want to quit working,” she said.

As for Fink, she said that she plans to keep teaching until her “knees wear out.”