WOODBURY — Physical education class is needed. Many kids here at Nonnewaug like gym class, but it’s not for everyone.
Many kids don’t participate actively in class. The kids who participate and get a good grade for the class get a little upset about that sometimes.
“I think the class is half and half, with people trying,” said senior Julia Longoria. “You have some people who try hard, and then some who just don’t participate at all and sit on the bleachers the entire class.”
It’s one thing to sit down for a couple of minutes, but if you don’t participate at all, you’re missing the point of PE. You’re not supposed to use that time like a study hall.
“When everyone participates in a class game, it’s actually pretty fun, and it gets the whole class going,” said Longoria.
I can relate to that because I’m in a PE class full of people I didn’t really talk to before the class, but we are all now friendly to each other and joke around with each other because we play games and do activities together. Some kids may just be afraid to participate in their class, but our class includes everyone.
Still, some students don’t like participating because they don’t like the activities.
“I don’t like gym class because the teachers always choose games I never agree with,” said senior Scott Bodie.
Yes, sometimes I feel like we do some repetitive games, or when we do open gyms it slowly gets boring over the span of class. But once everyone gets involved, we all have a good time. The PE teachers realize it’s important to change activities up and stay active.
“I think it’s important to move and not just sit and do the same old thing during the repetitive school day we’re used to,” said PE teacher Ryan Campanario. “It’s very important to stay active and communicate with others during the day.”
Either way, we all have to go to gym class. The State of Connecticut Statute 10-221a requires that all students complete one credit of physical education and a half-credit of health and safety coursework to graduate from high school. At Nonnewaug, students need to complete Wellness 1, 2, 3, and 4 to fulfill the two credits that are required for graduation. They are half-year courses. One credit is for physical education and one is for health.
But could we offer more activities instead of just PE? A lot of high schools have different types of classes that fulfill the state requirements. Pomperaug, for example, offers half-year classes like yoga, Zumba, weightlifting, and adventure sports.
Campanario said it would be a nice goal to include here, but those activities haven’t caught on when incorporated into the regular PE classes.
“In the past, we’ve tried incorporating weightlifting ever since we got the new weight room,” said Campanario, “but kids tend to use the time to socialize instead of actually working out.”
Here at Nonnewaug, there are a lot of students who like PE and physical activity. It definitely helps you during the day staying active. If you are one of those students, buy into the idea of coming up with more activities in PE, or even come up with new classes that go along with PE that Nonnewaug may consider.
This is the opinion of Matt Molleur, a junior reporter for the Chief Advocate.
