In past years at HHS, there has been a consistent system of determining gym classes: students chose the class they wanted to take for the marking period, and were assigned to the corresponding teacher for that activity.

As all school policies, this method of assigning gym classes was met with both criticism and approval, but was generally efficient. However, the beginning of the 2017-18 school year marked a change in that policy.

This year, students were assigned a teacher for the entire year, and teachers will choose their activity for each marking period. That means, of course, the end of those days that all students cherished: the days between marking periods when students did not have to change clothes when picking gym classes.

This change in policy has raised quite a few questions among students. What if I don’t like my gym teacher? What if I don’t have any friends in my class? What if I get stuck doing the same thing all year? Why did they even make this change anyway?

It remains unclear what the motives and reasoning are behind this change, but one thing we know for certain is that students have very mixed opinions. Some students feel that the new procedure is a negative thing that undermines the point of gym class. In particular, some seniors feel contempt that they are facing this change in their last year of high school.

“I do not like the gym policy this year,” senior Kristen Sarik said. “I believe that it is unfair and forces kids when they should be able to pick what they want to do in class.”

However, some other students are looking at the situation differently. Even seniors are thinking about it in a more positive light, perhaps because they feel it was time for a change.

“I think it’s a better way to arrange the students,” senior Erin Buckman said. “The classes would fill up so quickly when we had to choose them, so having the teachers pick for us makes it a lot more simple.”

Despite the disputes between students’ initial thoughts on the system, their views concerning the future of this policy seem united.

Both Sarik and Buckman feel that the ruling will not last into the coming years, either because teachers will realize that students would participate more effectively in classes they chose, or because it will prove to be too difficult to coordinate students’ lab days. Either way, this new gym structure is here to stay, at least for this school year.