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Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and University of Arkansas basketball coach John Calipari visited Hackler Intermediate School on Monday to celebrate the school’s win in the state’s #RazorbackReady2026 fitness challenge.
Hackler beat out schools across Arkansas in the contest, which the governor and the Arkansas Department of Education launched this spring to build excitement for the return of the Presidential Fitness Test. Schools entered by posting a 60- to 90-second video of students completing the test on social media between April 20 and May 22. Entries were judged on creativity, social media engagement and student participation.
The prize was a visit from Calipari, who came to Mountain Home with the governor and Education Secretary Jacob Oliva.
“There’s over a thousand schools in the state of Arkansas, and there’s over 500,000 students in the state of Arkansas,” Oliva told the students. He said he saw Hackler’s video and decided he needed to meet the students and teachers behind it.
Before the guests were introduced, school staff had students walk through the school’s Hackler Healthy Kids program, which runs after state testing each spring. Students named the mile run, a dodgeball and kickball tournament and a fifth grade wiffle ball tournament, along with recess twice a day.
Sanders told the students the visit was a reward for the work shown in their video.
“You showed us in that video how hard you can work,” Sanders said. “And as a reward of your hard work, you get to meet one of the coolest people in the entire state of Arkansas.”
She introduced Calipari as the man leading the Razorbacks to a national championship, adding, “no pressure, coach.”
Calipari presented Principal Kristyn Goodwin with a basketball addressed to the students of Hackler and signed by himself, the governor and Oliva. He then told the students he sees himself as a teacher, and that feeling confused in class is a sign of learning rather than a reason to stop.
“My job as a teacher is to make my players uncomfortable, have them do stuff I know that they didn’t even think they could do,” Calipari said. “As a student, your job is to be comfortable being uncomfortable.”
He told the students he uses the same message with his players. “I tell my guys when you feel like stopping, you have 40 percent left in the tank,” he said. “Don’t worry about competing against somebody else. Compete against yourself.”
Calipari also praised the school building and the community that paid for it.
“We came down there and said, this school can’t be 10 years old,” Calipari said. “Seeing the facilities that you all have here means your city and town is committed to all of you, because they built something like this for you to learn.”
Sanders, who said she has a ninth grader, a seventh grader and a fifth grader at home, closed the visit with a round of trivia. Students who answered correctly won a homework pass good for skipping one assignment, with Calipari picking the first hands to go up.
The questions covered Hackler’s mascot, the University of Arkansas mascot and the state capital. Calipari asked who led the Razorbacks in scoring last season. The final question, which the governor called the easiest, asked students to name the best basketball coach in the country.
Before leading a cheer for the coach, Sanders asked the students to thank their teachers.
“They do a lot of work that you don’t even see,” Sanders said. “When you go home, they’re still working. They’re preparing for you to come back the next day.”
The visit ended with the guests posing for a photo with Hackler’s teachers.
The challenge was part of the state’s rollout of the Presidential Fitness Test, which the governor ordered public schools to begin folding into physical education standards this school year. The test includes a one-mile run, one minute of sit-ups, push-ups or pull-ups, a shuttle run and the sit-and-reach.
Students who score at or above the 85th percentile nationally on all five may qualify for the Presidential Physical Fitness Award, which dates to President Lyndon B. Johnson. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in July 2025 bringing the test back nationally and reestablishing the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition.
Hackler serves the district’s third through fifth graders.
