Senior Madison Meeker starts to wrap up her final weeks of high school and finds herself struggling to make a decision about what classes to take next quarter. Having a challenging college course for two of her blocks, she wanted to take classes that made it less stressful on her final weeks as a senior.
Online classes are offered at Buffalo High School for students who have a schedule conflict or if a course they want to take isn’t available at the school. Meeker had heard from fellow classmates about the online gym class through Northern Star Online and was told the class was not challenging and students get to leave school.
The main requirements for students taking online gym is that they need to take pictures throughout the week of themselves working out and they must keep a workout log . The assignments are not extremely challenging, and students must leave school during the block they are taking the class.
Meeker not only decided to take online gym first block, but also dropped Senior Inquiry fourth block and enrolled into Online Gym 2.
. “I wanted to take online gym because it gives me a break from school,” Meeker said. “I wanted to be able to sleep in and have a class I didn’t have to worry too much about.”
Meeker’s morning “class” time is usually spent sleeping in. She wakes up at 9 every morning while students at high school are just beginning their first block class. After her fifteen minute shower she puts on makeup drys her hair, picks out her outfit,, and heads out the door.
After struggling to get through both of her college courses Meeker gets to walk out the doors at 1:30 and go do her own thing.
“I workout some days so I get my points for the class, but other days I do different things. I hang out with my friends who also took online gym, run errands for events such as prom, study for other classes and do homework, or just go home and watch television,” Meeker said.
Meeker isn’t the only student who has these same thoughts another classmate, Tyler Johnson takes online gym block 3 and 4 and describes his ”class” time as stress free.
“It’s nice to have more freedom in my day so I have more time for work, hanging with my friends, lifting, and resting from my day,” Johnson said “Senior year is stressful enough trying to find a college, planning all the everything that leads up to graduation, prom, and sports. I always seem to run out of time in my day and now I’m able to get things done and my life isn’t as stressful.”
School can get long and majority of high schools students find themselves not having enough time in their day to finish all of the things they need to. Many have a job after school and at least an hour of homework. Seniors are taking classes that are not required by the end of the term and to some it seems pointless to be here. The benefits from online gym seem beneficial but you are also giving up the ability to learn something new in a class and lacking improvement to your knowledge. As a senior in high school I think online gym is a nice option because it allows students to get a break from school and focus on work, friends, family, and other events going on in their lives.
