Another year another struggle of finding where to go for gym

Photographer%3A+Janel+Paredes

Janel Paredes

Photographer: Janel Paredes

Melonie Johnson, Staff Reporter

Through rain, snow, or wind, you’re expected to be at gym class on time–even if you have to drag yourself up the block. Physical education is mandatory for all four years of high school, but it’s tough to enjoy this class when you don’t know where the gym is. 

Each day students have to figure out where to go for gym, someone on the loudspeaker has to tell them where to go. It would be much easier to have our own gym. Oftentimes, students are late to class because they are trying to figure out if class is in someone else’s classroom, Metro field, or even going up a long hill to NJCU.

 Not only are the students frustrated, but it’s taking a toll on the teachers too. Christopher Pruden, one of the Physical Education teachers at UACHS, is not the biggest fan of having to walk up the block for gym.

“I don’t feel so great about going up to NJCU everyday, I wish we had the AFC but I’ll do what’s necessary to teach physical education,” said Pruden.

 Gym is made for us to be active; if we had a gymnasium it would be organized. Basketball, Volleyball, Kickball, etc are some of the things we could safely play if we had our own gym. We could play those games at NJCU, but there is very limited space. Along with that, Metro Field is sometimes muddy after rain. 

Shamiyah Daily, a Junior at UACHS, feels as though it’s very stressful to keep going to different places everyday.

“I feel like it’s messed up because we shouldn’t have to walk anywhere and the school should be big enough to have a gym,” Daily said. “We are connected with NJCU, if anything we should be able to use the AFC.”

Having a place to go would be convenient for the UACHS family. Overall, the 

change could make everyone happier and put everyone at ease knowing that there is one set place for gym.