As upperclasssmen finish their two-year physical education requirement, the question of whether or not the program prepares students for a lifetime of fitness remains.
According to physical education teachers, a purpose of the class is to expose students to a variety of sports and activities that they might not discover by themselves. Freshman girls P.E. advisor Annette Gennaro says, “P.E. is just a starting drive for students. Usually a lot of kids up to this point either only do one sport, multiple sports, or none. Hopefully when students are in P.E. for two years, they can find a sport or exercise that they truly enjoy, so that they can continue with it for their whole life.”
Junior Cecily Bochannek agrees that P.E. allows students to continue exercising throughout their high school years. She says, “I think P.E. helps you establish a medium of what you should be doing, the amount of exercise you will be needing, and what you should be working towards for the rest of your life.”
However, P.E. can can have a negative effect on students who participate in multiple athletic activities. Junior Brianna Panozzo says, “Last spring, I was doing yoga, P.E. and swim team, so I was completely worn out by the end of the day. Especially on P.E. block days, it was more stressful to think about the physical pain while running knowing that I have practice or a swim meet later.”
Other upperclassmen who are not involved in any sports find it difficult to incorporate exercise with fun activities that they personally enjoy. Bochannek says, “This summer, I went jogging occasionally, but it’s really hard for me to find the motivation to do it because I don’t have a regular schedule anymore.”
For junior Joy Lin, her completion of P.E. has not stopped her from exercising daily. She says, “Not having P.E. has been fine. Maybe other people need a routine for exercise, but for me, I prefer a more convenient approach. In my opinion, I don’t see much of a difference because I still walk [almost a mile to and from school every day almost. Then when I don’t have an insane load of homework on the weekends, I swim.”
However, a major concern among upperclassmen is whether or not to prioritize exercise above schoolwork. Bochannek says, “I get less exercise than before due to a very busy junior schedule. Juniors really have no time. We are supposed to have a lot of extracurriculars, get all our homework done, study for the SAT’s and get some rest if possible. If I want to go to sleep at some point in the day, I need to take away something else. So exercise and a social life get thrown out the window.”
Although junior Alexander Binsacca enjoys running, he affirms that juniors should not prioritize exercise before schoolwork. “Students should not be putting off their schoolwork and trading that time for exercise,” he says. “Grades are very important unless you want to be a recruited athlete in college.”
In some cases, P.E. enables students to discover latent athletic talents. Sophomore Puneet Mahesha joined the badminton team his freshman year after being introduced to it in his P.E. class. He says, “[The class] let me discover that I was actually pretty good at badminton. I really hadn’t played the sport before, but then I realized that I could beat almost everyone in the class and compete against my teacher, Ms. Brown, who is also the badminton coach.When I joined the team I found out that badmiton could become a sport I really liked.”
Above all, many students agree that P.E. helps students instill exercise habits for the rest of their lives. Sophomore Lynn Jiao says, “Running five miles a week not only keeps us fit, but it also makes us mentally stronger. Yeah, we run a lot in Aragon P.E., but overall, P.E. and intense physical exercise push us beyond what we think we are capable of, and that’s what gets us to work our hardest.”
