The moment I walk through the doors of the locker room after a long gym period, I immediately feel as though I’m already behind and in a rush. Before some of us can even reach our bags, there’s a teacher calling out, “Make sure you guys are out before the bell” reminding us that we need to leave the locker room before the bell rings, which, often, more times than not, is in less than three minutes. At this moment, gym feels like a race set up for students to lose.

At Hillsborough High School, students are sometimes given no more than a minute to change after gym class before rushing off to their next class. This gives students one minute to change their clothes, gather their belongings, and leave the locker room in a rush. This expectation is unrealistic and adds completely unnecessary stress to students. Not to mention, discourages them from properly participating in physical activities, since they are aware that they won’t have time to change out of dirty clothes for the rest of the school day.

As a student who does not have a lab day, I have gym every day out of the 6 day cycle. This means that there is very, very rarely a day when I can wear jeans and go to school knowing that I won’t be required to change to earn participation in gym. As jeans are not allowed during gym, I have to either give up the choice to wear jeans completely or scramble to change in the one minute I’m given. Knowing that I’ll barely have time to do so, I often opt out of wearing jeans. If we were given a few extra minutes after gym, students like me could dress the way they wanted to and still participate in gym, without feeling as though we are punished for having it every day.

Locker rooms are already crowded and lack privacy, so the pressure to be out in under a minute before the bell only increases student’s anxiety. If given extra time, students could avoid going to their next class feeling sweaty or flustered because they didn’t have the proper time to gather themselves after class. This rush can affect focus, confidence and force students to be uncomfortable for the rest of the day.

If students know that they won’t have time to properly change after gym class, they are far less likely to put in full effort during class. The lack of changing time and fear of sweating through their school clothes, discourages students from participating in gym altogether. Why would they play hard and fully participate if doing so means added stress and discomfort? Giving students the proper time to change would encourage them to truly engage in whatever activity the class is covering—which is the idea behind gym altogether.

Some might argue that students are not moving fast enough, are spending time on their phones, or that the schedule can’t be adjusted, but this cannot be the final answer. None of these explanations can justify expecting dozens of students to change in a matter of minutes in overcrowded locker rooms with limited bathroom stalls. This approach is simply an unrealistic standard.

The solution to this problem does not need to be drastic. Moving a couple minutes from the start of class, when students simply walk in circles before being called to attendance, to the end of the period would give students those few extra minutes that would make a meaningful difference. These small changes would give students grace, showing them that the school values their well-being and comfort.

Gym class is meant to support student health, not do the opposite by adding stress to an already stressful day. If this school wants students to feel confident, prepared and willing to participate, they need to provide us with this simple need—enough time to change.

One minute simply just isn’t enough.