Barb Borger has been a dedicated coach and physical education teacher in the Waterloo school district since 1985 and recently retired after 34 total years in education.

Her passion for fitness and education has driven her teaching and coaching career.

“I’ll miss promoting the importance of daily fitness activities to those students receptive of the need to be active throughout life,” she said.

During her 29 years at Waterloo, she coached at least one sport every school year.

At Waterloo High School, she coached track for 29 years and was the head girls track coach for 25 years, along with eight years as head volleyball coach, one year as assistant softball coach and one year as assistant girls basketball coach.

“It has been said that WHS has one of the best physical education programs in southern Illinois,” she said. “We have been fortunate to have had strong support from the administrators to develop and continue to develop a fitness-based P.E. program.”

Borger is proud of what the physical education program at WHS has become, and says all the planning and effort was well worth it.

“The students will be able to take the knowledge they learned and experienced in P.E. and use it throughout life,” she said.

The physical education program has changed from game-based to fitness-based, Borger said.

Over the years, the high school has been able to add new equipment, including pedometers, an elliptical, Schwinn Airdyne bicycles and much more.

“In 2004, with input from Todd Manning (principal at the time), Wayne Collmeyer (superintendent at the time), and myself, we received the Fitness Center equipment: 18 hoist weightlifting machines, 15 pieces of cardio-vascular equipment, two treadmills, two recumbent bicycles, one upright bicycle, an elliptical and nine spinner bicycles,” Borger said.

It’s been 10 years since the acquisition of the equipment, and Borger said everything is in excellent working order because of how well the students treat it.

In addition to helping the school get the equipment to make it as successful as it is today, Borger is also proud of track accomplishments.

“Another highlight in my career was winning back-to-back Mississippi Valley Conference track meets in 2003 and 2004,” she said. “Mr. Randy Halleran was my assistant coach.”

School sports for girls have changed considerably over Borger’s time in the district.

When she got to WHS in 1985, there were only opportunities for girls to participate in volleyball and track.

“There are now many more opportunities for girls to compete,” she said.

In her retirement, Borger said she plans to “not get up at 5 a.m.” During her time at Waterloo, she got up at 5 a.m. during the week to be at school for the Early Bird Personal Fitness students, who began working out at 6:30 a.m.

Borger joins several other Waterloo school district employees who retired after the 2013-14 school year, including Sharon Glessner, Pamela Gorka, James Helton, Courtney McRoberts, Teresa Nollau, Jane Schwebke and Cheryl Smith.