Beginning in the 2018-2019 school year, SIS will be expanding opportunities for students aspiring to become more athletic and knowledgable about both sports and health: the high school PE department will be teaching a new class other than Life Sports called Advanced Sports. In it, teachers will delve deeper into the rules, skills, and tactics essential to succeeding in specific sports and recreational activities; it may even hold field trips to foster a greater understanding of these activities, such as ones to public bowling alleys and hiking trails on mountains. In addition to sports-related information, this class will include a health unit, during which students will be instructed about, for example, how to conduct CPR. As such, this class marks a major departure from SIS’ arguably academically oriented environment.

“The course is aimed at students who enjoy Physical Education; you do not have to the worlds best athlete, but a moderate amount of athleticism would help,” said Ricky Green, PE teacher for the Advanced Sports class next year. “As the course is weighted highly on Personal Engagement and Social Skills, you will instead need more of these attributes to succeed.”

Although this addition to the PE department means more opportunities for budding athletes and sports enthusiasts to explore their particular interests, the student body has various, differing responses to this new class. Some dismiss this class as “a waste of time” for their other priorities, arguing that it will be a hindrance to their success in their other classes, close to half of which will likely consist of rigorous AP courses. Meanwhile, some seem willing to enroll as rising seniors, if not as juniors, due to the high level of gameplay and stress-relieving quality of this course. Overall, students seem receptive of this change, regardless of whether they will actually enroll.

“I am really interested in this class, and I think it is a great way for student athletes to work on their interests and relieve stress,” said Eugene Jang (10), a sophomore interested in sports. “If I had more time on my hands, I would definitely take the class next year as an 11th grader. Unfortunately, I don’t think that is the case, but it will be a priority during my senior year.”