McHenry Times

The director of physical education (PE) and health, Tommy Parisi, made a presentation to the Community Unit School District 300 board on the past couple of years of the high school’s blended PE program.

The flexible PE program was started for grades nine through 12 in the 2017-2018 school year. Since then, the program has seen about 100 students each semester over the last five years. It is a nontraditional PE class where the course meets once a week for 60 minutes in a time outside of the traditional school day. 

"And then, most importantly, it gives students greater choice. It gives students greater choice in their school," Parisi said. "It gives students greater choice in what they want to do to stay healthy, which is that at the end of the day, what we're all about."

On their own, students have a goal of achieving vigorous physical activity every single school day with a target of hitting 60% of their max heart rate for at least 30 minutes. Students also complete weekly cognitive assignments and reflections based on their own personal health and exercise plans that will effectively reach goals that they set for themselves. 

The class was created to allow students to have more room for the academic courses they wanted to take. Since PE is still required, this allowed students to achieve that requirement while taking more of the academics. It was also to encourage lifelong habits and skills for maintaining their own health. 

Students track their own workouts with heart monitors or a smart device and upload pictures of them as proof of their completion. All their workouts and other cognitive activities are uploaded through Schoology, a program that the district utilizes.