Beth leads a team of experienced educators and entrepreneurs at Sacramento-headquartered Heart Zones, Inc. to accomplish a very large goal – get kids and teachers fit. Beth Kirkpatrick has the spirit and the stamina to lead teachers, administrators, and students by revitalizing curriculum, leading professional development, and implementing technologies that will accomplish getting kids and getting America fit
From 1973 to 1993, Beth Kirkpatrick taught middle school PE in the public schools systems in Vinton, Iowa. She was one of the first PE teachers in the nation to pioneer the application of wearable technologies – the heart rate monitor – in schools. For the next 18 years, from 1993-2011 she was the Director of Education for Polar Electro Inc. using her experience, imagination, insight, and boldness to elevate physical education and education overall to new heights. A trailblazer ahead of her time, Beth has been unwavering in her conviction that the integration of technology and assessment through objective measurement best captured through heart rate and now almost any wearable smart device could create real breakthroughs in PE and in the health literacy of children long-term. One of Beth’s best quotes is, “We must be able to prescribe personal exercise to individuals in a group setting. Without foot pods for tracking, heart rate monitors for assessing intensity, and hardware/software for collecting and interpreting the data, physical educators are prescribing exercise as one-size-fits all which doesn’t work.”
Beth Kirkpatrick has been featured on CNN, NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, Life Magazine, countless magazine and newspaper stories nationwide. Her published work includes one of the first books for using heart rate monitors in physical education titled “Lessons From the Heart.”
It would be difficult to find an individual who has impacted more lives in the PE profession than Beth. She has moved the profession forward and inspired countless teachers, administrators and decision makers to engage and motivate movement using sensors and software like the Heart Zones System. She has testified before the Congressional Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee in Washington D.C. and was part of the NASPE, National Association of Sport and Physical Education, advocacy group that lobbies Congress yearly to provide federal funding for physical education.
Beth’s drive to incorporate fitness technologies into the more than 100,000 schools in the USA spans kindergarten through collegiate levels. She has worked with several NCAA Division I basketball teams introducing heart rate monitor training to universities including Duke University, the University of Kentucky, the University of Tennessee, the University of Connecticut, LSU, NC State, Fresno State, BYU, University of Iowa, Iowa State, Michigan State, and Ball State University to name a few.
Beth’s reach extends far beyond the borders of the USA. Beth has keynoted over 1500 conferences in all fifty states as well as international keynotes in Malaysia, South Africa, Germany, Brazil, China, and Canada.
Beth was awarded the Emens Distinguished Professorship at Ball State University, and numerous state and national education awards including the U.S. Department of Education’s Christa McAuliffe Fellowship Award, as well as the US West Outstanding Teacher of the Year for Iowa, and National Association of Sport and Physical Education’s teacher of the year for the state and district.
With all her stated accomplishments and credentials, Beth’s role with Heart Zones is to continue her life’s work and help get all physical education classrooms in the country using the Heart Zones System!
