In every school, most students end up taking at least one year of Physical Education class. In Physical education, students are supposed to exercise and complete workouts. At Ánimo Pat Brown, students can take P.E. as an elective, and while some students do not like some aspects of the class, many of them, overall, enjoy it.
Junior Zitlally Martinez says that she enjoys taking P.E. because it gives her a break from classes. “You’re not always doing something academically, but something physically,” Zitlally said. She also says that she likes to stay active by running.
Junior Gerardo Hernandez is also taking P.E. and says that he likes the class.
“I like it, it keeps me active throughout the day,” Gerardo said.
He not only enjoys the class but also understands the importance of the class, something that other students sometimes do not understand.
“It’s important to stay active at least once a day; at home I get lazy,” Gerardo said
Both Zitlally and Gerardo like that they get to work while talking and having fun with their friends.
. Although these students like the class, they wish some aspects of it would be different.
For example, they dance Zumba, which is a latin-based dance style that uses aerobics.
“I don’t like the fact that we don’t run anymore and it makes me feel feminine,” Gerardo said.
Zitlally says that she does likes the fact that now they are dancing Zumba, but she would like to play more sports.
“We do exercise but I don’t think that’s enough,” Zitlally said.
She feels that they are taking time from exercising to do more writing.
“Sometimes I have to do essays,” Zitlally said. “Right now we are doing a letter. I would like it if we did less writing and more exercise.”
Gerardo also dislikes that they are doing much more writing in P.E. class. The class has began writing much more since the school decided to incorporate writing and reading into all the classes at the school to improve the students’ writing and reading skills.
Still, the students know that this is for their own benefit, and they know that they are improving their writing and learning from the texts they read.
“We learn about pregnancies, drugs, and alcohol,” Zitlally said. “We learn about their effects through the readings, and how to be alert and not to do them.”
P.E. at APB is not a class where students just sit around and waste their time by do nothing. If they are not playing a sport they are doing homework or studying for other classes. Although it is not fun to be sweaty after the class, students taking physical education class recommend it to other students. This class will help them be healthy and help them release stress from academic classes.
