WHITE — For the past five years, Deubrook PE teacher Brock Landmark has taught students the value of hard work. Now his own dedication to discipline has paid off. Landmark has been named High School PE Teacher of the Year by the Society for Health and Physical Educators of South Dakota.

Deubrook Superintendent Kimberly Kludt nominated Landmark for the award and said he consistently inspires kids to do their best.

“I was made aware of the award … and just thought it was a perfect fit for Mr. Landmark,” Kludt said. “We have students who are natural athletes and want to push themselves. And we have students who have never seen themselves in the future doing anything athletic at all. But we want them all to be healthy, and we want them to be fit. And Mr. Landmark can take both extremes and help them to accomplish their personal goals.”

During his first year at Deubrook, Landmark founded the Iron Dolphin program, based on the Iron Jacks program SDSU uses to recognize high standards of exercise in various sports.

“I tweaked it a little bit for high school age kids, and so they have to complete seven of the eight standards. They’re just various exercises or lifts that test …  core strength or upper body strength or power output,” Landmark said. “When I started here, we had four kids do Iron Dolphin. Over the years it’s grown, and I think the first year we only had one girl. Now I think it’s split half girls and half boys. And we have four sections of strength now. Last year, I think we had over a dozen kids that were Iron Dolphins.”

He said the best part of the job is helping kids surprise themselves.

“Seeing kids do something that they perceived to be impossible — that’s rewarding, to see them accomplish a goal they wanted to do, but they didn’t think they could,” Landmark said. “It’s not a sprint; it’s a marathon. I’m just trying to tell them, ‘you’re in it for the long haul here.’ I want them to have a positive experience in my class so they can continue this long after high school. And it may look different. Your fitness may not look like my fitness, but as long as you’re doing something fitness related, that’s my goal.”

He said every student is capable of some measure of success.

“The worst thing you can do is nothing at all,” Landmark said. “I tell them, ‘don’t tell me what you can’t do. Tell me what you can do.’ And let’s work from there. I just always try to be flexible. Even if a kid has a bum ankle, let’s go in the weight room and do some upper body work. You know, just do something instead of nothing.”

In addition to physical fitness, Landmark teaches the lifelong importance of setting goals and staying disciplined.

“Motivation wears off after three or four minutes, so I think it really comes down to discipline,” Landmark said. “You can watch a motivational clip and that’s great. But what are you going to do an hour from then? With discipline, I’m reminding them every day — what are we trying to work towards? It’s not always going to be fun, but we always have to choose something over nothing. That’s really what I always preach to them.”

For Landmark, physical education has been a lifelong pursuit.

“I didn’t know until recently when my mom pulled it out — because moms hold on to everything — I had a letter apparently I wrote in kindergarten that said I wanted to be a PE teacher someday,” Landmark said. “She pulled that out and still had that letter. So yeah, I guess I’ve always just wanted to. And I’m really passionate about working out and exercising and being healthy. I just want to share that with others.”

Kludt said Landmark’s enthusiasm for fitness is contagious around the school.

“The one thing that I’ve noticed most pervasive here is the mindset change — that PE isn’t just for athletes. That isn’t the case here. PE and health is for everyone,” Kludt said. “It’s about being proud of where you’re at, but setting a goal and then achieving that goal. The support that the students feel from their peers and Mr. Landmark just pushes them towards their goals, encouraging them.”

Landmark said although he’s honored to receive the award, it’s the hard work of the kids that means the most to him.

“It’s not my achievement but a recognition of the amazing students,” Landmark said. “The beauty of teaching lies in seeing students break through both physical and mental barriers. Physical Education is more than just teaching sports or fitness. It is about helping students develop confidence, learn to work with others, build resilience and improve their mental health.”

— Contact Jay Roe at jroe@brookingsregister.com.