Basketball, volleyball, baseball, dance, soccer — physical education teacher Leah Enterline can’t remember a time when sports weren’t a part of her life. She has always been motivated by a love for competition and physical activity.

This enthusiasm has earned her recognition for her efforts: Enterline has been named the SHS Teacher of the Year.

“Physical education is where my passion is,” Enterline said. “I love every minute of it.”

Enterline shows her dedication in and out of the fieldhouse. Through exercising regularly and focusing on healthy eating in her personal life, she says she lives by what she teaches her students. Additionally, Enterline helps others around her stay fit by leading high-intensity interval training for teachers and putting together healthy lifestyle plans for those who ask.

Administrative assistant Alicia Tasker came to know Enterline through this process. After Tasker requested Enterline’s aid with creating an exercise program, Enterline completely dedicated herself to helping, according to Tasker. When she had questions, Enterline responded immediately with multiple videos to demonstrate different exercises. This was just one example of the many things Enterline does to help her friends, colleagues and students be better people, Tasker says.

“Enterline is probably one of the most caring and giving people that I’ve ever met,” Tasker said.

Her caring nature can be seen during gym classes, says freshman Angie Matute. If students are doing an exercise incorrectly, Matute explains that Enterline fixes the problem in a “good” way, with patience and understanding.

“She’s nice to us,” Matute said. “That’s what everyone likes about her.”

Enterline focuses on teaching how to maintain a healthy lifestyle during her physical education classes. She says she wants students to develop skills that they can use for the future individually, “whatever that looks like for them.” The skills can apply to a variety of things, from lifelong sports, like swimming, to the use of personal fitness plans.

Math teacher Chelsea Hoffman was able to experience Enterline’s philosophy on physical activity firsthand. When she was a junior and senior at SHS, Enterline was her head basketball coach. Now they are close friends. Hoffman emphasizes how driven Enterline has always been and how she truly cares about seeing her friends and students be the best they can be. She says Enterline has taken away the disinterested physical education teacher stereotype with her innovation and commitment to her work.

“She really is compassionate,” Hoffman said. “(She) cares about her kids and wants them to succeed.”

Fellow physical education teacher Rachel Ancelet calls Enterline one of the most compassionate people she knows. The two are best friends and have been teaching alongside one another for 10 years. Feeling that Enterline deserved appreciation for her hard work, Ancelet was one of the teachers who nominated her for Teacher of the Year.

She says Enterline was shocked and speechless when she found out that she received the award.

“I don’t think she realizes the value that she has,” Ancelet said. “She just thought that with all of the amazing teachers we have at Southport, she wasn’t going to have a shot.”

Principal Brian Knight was the one to deliver the news. He thinks, like Hoffman, that she has broken the physical education teacher stereotype and revamped the curriculum. In particular, he mentions freshman physical education has been improved for students to develop lifelong fitness skills that will stay with them after they have left SHS.

“What she does in her classroom is phenomenal,” Knight said. “It’s not just the old school P.E. model where we roll the ball, and we play some games.”

For Enterline, her career as a physical education teacher isn’t work. It’s her passion. She says it is amazing to come to work every day and teach what she loves at SHS, which she considers a great environment full of wonderful people. She would put it up against the best schools in Indiana any day.

“I’m honored and proud to say that I serve at Southport High School,” Enterline said. “ … I don’t even call this job work. I love this place. I love what I do.”