I have been looking at heart rate data for almost 30 years, while doing triathlons and cycling. Starting with Cooper’s AEROBICS and using his system of points, I examined and interpreted my data, as a method to measure physical activity and plan my workouts. My first experience with a bicycle computer that showed heart rate, was a Pacer 2000. I was watching it intently while going down a hill when my recently married wife yelled at me to “Watch Out!” as a truck came around a curve toward me. I’ve always been interested in cutting edge technology, especially as it relates to health and fitness. I have been using power sensors for 17 years, comparing power to heart rate. About 30 years ago, I started a gymnastics equipment business, Tumbl Trak, which has done very well, from which I have recently retired.Now, my goals are to continue setting personal records for Watts to Heart Rate Ratio, eventually for a period of one to two hours, indoors. While pedaling, I harvest my energy, filling battery after battery! My ultimate goal is to connect group and individual fitness apps, and to integrate this data with data from green machines that produce power.
A New England native and serious Boston sports fan, I am surprised and pleased to officially be part of the Seattle-based Heart Tech Plus team! My entire teaching career was spent in the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District, where I taught Physical Education at both the Elementary and Middle school levels, and was also the Intramural Director. In addition, I coached baseball and basketball at the high school, where I had the pleasure of coaching my sons, both of whom went on to play college basketball. My daughter’s early and enduring love of animals led her to a career as a veterinarian. I went ‘back to college’ with my kids, and earned a Masters of Education in Technology degree. Dedicated to finding avenues of funding to bring my ideas to fruition, I was involved in the application process and the awarding of a Lighthouse Grant to implement technology in Hamilton-Wenham’s K-12 physical education program. I was the lead teacher in the district-wide effort funded from this Carol M. White Pep Grant award.
With this training and experience behind me, I have dedicated the balance of my professional career to the implementation of technology into all aspects of physical education programs nationwide, traveling throughout the country working as a technology consultant. Most of my extensive experience has been working with PEP Grants as both a Data Collection Specialist and Assistant Program Director. I also worked for eight months in Florida for the Polk County School District as a Teacher Resource Specialist for their PEP Grant. In education, I believe that if it is relevant and important, there are ways to find the necessary funding to support technology projects and program needs. My real passion is Heart Rate Technology and I can honestly say that I have been on a quest to find the best heart rate system for students and teachers, and Heart Tech Plus is the one.
Cory has over 20 years of fitness assessment experience working with: health clubs, military/fire/police, wellness centers, physical rehabilitation and physical education; Cory Mortensen started EKHO in 2003, successfully growing the company over a period of 10 years and selling it to BSN Sports. He is a committed to making fitness assessment a part of everyone’s life.
Dr. Chris Mekelburg Ed. D. – Rockville Center School District, Long Island, NY
As an elementary physical education teacher for the past seven years, I have had a unique journey which has led me to best practice in teaching in the public school setting. Since the beginning of my professional career I have written and administered a 1.4 million dollar federal PEP grant which has transformed the districts PE department. This opportunity provided me the ability to re-write the districts PE plan and seamlessly integrate technology into every class and teaching space.
The use of heart rate in physical education is the only way for an educator to objectively assess the effort and health of their students while participating in class. Concurrently this technology should be utilized to drive the decision making process as a research based approach to education. This technology allows for the seamless and objective evaluation of students, physical education teachers and directors of physical education programs. This technology has now reached the level where affordability and usability have met a balancing point and every district and teacher has an opportunity to change their program.
As a doctoral candidate in Education Leadership I have been able to mesh theory and practice on a daily basis inside the gymnasium walls. The use of data to direct program funding, continuation and relevance has been at the forefront of positive change in my district. My expertise lies in the incorporation of 21st century skill and technology into the Physical Education pedagogy. Please visit and join my Twitter account at @mrm3kpe; or email me with any questions you may have about how to improve your program at [email protected].
Hello everyone! I am extremely excited to be a part of the Heart Tech Plus Brand Ambassador team! Currently, I am one of the elementary physical education teachers at Waverly Elementary School in Ellicott City, Maryland, where I have been teaching for the past 7 years. I strive to give my students the best possible learning experience in my class on a daily basis and I hope to one day become a state, regional or national physical education teacher of the year!
I am passionate about quality, purposeful physical education. My belief as a physical educator is that I must practice what I preach and on any given day after school, you can find me running sprints or working out at the gym. On the weekends I like to get outside and enjoy nature by going hiking, backpacking, rock climbing or camping with my wife and friends. Living a healthy, active lifestyle is very important to me.
My Bachelor’s degree is from Salisbury University on Maryland’s eastern shore. Following the completion of my undergraduate degree in physical education in 2009, I enrolled in a one of a kind Master’s degree program at the University of Northern Iowa, focusing on teaching with technology specific to the physical education setting. This Master’s program coupled pedagogical and technology classes at the university with a teaching immersion experience within Grundy Center Community School District. I taught at Grundy Center Elementary School during the day where I put the theory and content I was learning from my Master’s classes into practice on a daily basis. While teaching in Grundy Center, I had the chance to implement heart rate monitors, activity monitors, fitness assessment software and computer projection systems to enhance instruction and help his students make the “brain-body” connection. It was here that I learned not only how to effectively incorporate this type technology to supplement instruction, but also how to effectively manage it. I have written and won multiple local and national grants in order to acquire funding to use my knowledge and experience to effectively implement a heart rate monitoring program and an activity monitoring programs at Waverly over the past several years.
Hello everybody! First and foremost, I am extremely excited to be a part of the Heart Tech Plus Ambassador team! Currently, I am a Physical Education teacher in Denver, Colorado at Bruce Randolph School (Denver Public Schools). I was one of the first Physical Education teachers that partnered with Heart Tech Plus and have been using their products, web portal, and app for the last four years.
I am completely “all in” as a Physical Education teacher. I was named the 2018 SHAPE Colorado High School Teacher of the Year. I personally believe that Physical Education is the most important subject in today’s schools, due to the fact that more and more research is proving a correlation between students’ academic success and physical activity. Furthermore, I get so excited when implementing technology into my classes, such as my Heart Tech Plus heart rate monitors. I immediately become passionate of my students’ success when I witness them taking ownership of their own learning and evaluating their heart rate monitor data and goals!
On another note, for my undergraduate studies, I attended two colleges: Metro State University in Denver, Colorado and Sterling College in Sterling, Kansas. At these schools, I had the privilege of playing collegiate baseball and earning my degree in Human Performance and Sport with a teaching licensure in K-12 Physical Education. I have been using my P.E. degree for 8 years now; I’ve been teaching in public schools in Denver for 8 years and in 2011, I was the Recreation Coordinator at an adult Detention Center!
Last but not least, when I am not at work, I live for the time that I can spend with my wife, Danielle, my 3 year old son Aiden (who was born on Thanksgiving 2016) and my yellow Labrador Retriever Jake! I also try to find time to spend with my identical twin brother, Brad, who is also a member of the Heart Tech Plus Education Team.
Brad taught physical education for ten years at the middle school level. He was named the 2018 SHAPE Colorado Middle School Physical Education Teacher of the Year and the 2020 SHAPE America Central District Middle School Physical Education Teacher of the Year. In 2017-2018, Brad helped his school become one of three schools in Colorado to receive a $100,000 DON’T QUIT! Fitness Center sponsored by the National Foundation for Governors’ Fitness Councils. In the same year, he helped his school receive the Riding for Focus grant sponsored by The Specialized Foundation that consisted of a fleet of mountain bikes and helmets that totaled approximately $30,000. He has received numerous grants from Fuel Up to Play 60. In this time as a teacher, he served as a Mentor Teacher in his district to support new physical educators and served as the Denver Broncos NFL Play 60 FitnessGram Champion. He implemented the Heart Tech Plus system into this lessons daily to help students become independent learners, to help them track Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity, and to help them learn the importance of exercising in multiple heart rate zones. Brad is a firm believer that heart rate technology is a game changer for physical education.
