St. Louis U. High has changed the requirements for Physical Education credit this year by allowing students to count their sports as physical activity.

In the past few years, PE has changed in their class periods and the value of their credits. Prior to Covid, PE was divided up into students taking the class two days a week in the seven-class per day schedule. However, when Covid hit and SLUH pivoted to a block schedule, the PE curriculum had to share time with other classes and often met only once per week. 

As a result, PE classes earned a 0.2 credit instead of the 25 it had earned in the previous schedule. The change was confusing for students to remember when each class occurred, and for colleges looking over their SLUH applicants' transcripts.

“Last year was really confusing because it would be like two day of Human Geo. and then it would be a PE class,” said sophomore Alex Bendaña. “It just was really hard for our class to keep track of it all.”

“In our block schedule,” said Assistant Principal for Academics Dr. Kevin Foy, “our classes had some 0.2’s, some 0.5’s, some 0.6’s and some 1.0 courses, which made colleges not always understand what we were trying to do and it accidentally created a really bizarre situation.”

With this year’s new rotating block schedule, PE was finally able to once again fit properly within the school’s schedule rather than being thrown in with other classes. This came with a bonus to SLUH students of allowing them to count sports played throughout the year as credit for PE. However, there is a limit in that one sport will count for a single quarter of PE. Additionally, playing two or more sports does not have any effect on the PE curriculum as every student is required to take at least one quarter’s worth of physical education.

“What we did is we added up the numbers of hours spent in a traditional PE class versus the number of hours spent in an athletic season,” said Foy. “It sort of worked out and made sense that we chose to award one quarter’s worth of credit to a student who is an athlete since they already put many hours into their own sport.”

The change of the PE credit requirements had many different effects on students depending on their activity levels as there is a difference between a sports team and a PE class. The benefit of a PE as a class is to provide a space for students who otherwise do not play sports or who aren’t as interested in athletics to have a chance to play and get physical activity while also providing space for guys to be able to bond with classmates, they would otherwise not have a chance to do, an aspect of PE that was lost in Covid. 

Simultaneously, the PE credit change will also help out those students on the opposite spectrum, whose time is constantly filled by sports practices, games, and tournaments. These students already devote much of their time to bonding around physical play, the main purpose of PE as a class. The new change essentially acknowledges that these athletes are getting physical activity without having to fill an extra class with PE. Instead, that time could be spent on academic work. 

“I really like having a free period in between classes,” said freshman Brady Vogt. “It’s nice for me to be able to catch up with all of my homework and other stuff that I need to do since I am already busy with XC and other things after school.”

               The ramifications of the change are felt in the PE courses. Although PE will have more time to meet than it did the last couple years, the number of students registered in a PE course this year is at an all time low. This is mainly due to the fact that the change was implemented in a time when most students had already filled their PE obligations under the new requirements and that only freshmen are now required to fulfill this new obligation. 

                “The number of students in PE and weightlifting classes this year is at its lowest point,” said Zarrick. “However, as each new class comes to SLUH we should see those numbers pick back up again because each year it will not just be the freshman of the previous year, but a new class as well. Then, we will return back to higher numbers.”

Luckily, the new change in the curriculum will have no effect on what the Physical Education department will offer to students in the upcoming years. Students will still be able to enroll in a variety of classes including yoga, weightlifting, and cycling. Trips like the Katy Bike Trail will still be offered over the summer break.

“One of our emphases this year is to make sure our students are aware that we're still offering plenty of types of classes for students to take,” said Physical Education and Health Department chair Gary Kornfled. “Basically, if there is an interest, we are going to offer it.”