Athletic study hall for all?

At the moment, athletic study hall, a system in which students are able to opt out of P.E. during their sport season, is only available to juniors and seniors, creating differing opinions throughout the school.

Freshman Macy Wirtz advocates for underclassman athletic study hall. She believes that while “it hasn’t really impacted [her] grades too much, [she] does think [her] grades could have been improved with extra time to do homework.”

According to Wirtz, “a majority of underclassman would use athletic study hall wisely and it would be effective, whether it’s giving them more time to rest or spend time with their family since they will have finished their homework in school.”

Aaron Lyubansky, junior, has “found it frustrating and counterintuitive to be in P.E. while in [his] athletic season.”

Lyubansky argues that P.E for an athlete is not necessary. In fact, “P.E. degrades the performance of our athletes by making them work twice in a day when most coaches are designing their training without P.E. in mind.”

Lyubansky also adds that “having an extra 50 minutes to do homework during a more productive work time can make the difference between a good night of sleep and a bad one,” which is always important to student-athletes.

Rebecca Owen, senior, does not think freshman and sophomores need athletic study hall. “Even if they have hard classes, I feel like their workload isn’t nearly as much as juniors and seniors,” she explains.

One of Owen’s main concerns regarding underclassmen in study hall is the possibility of not enough space. “The study hall classroom is so crowded it would be such a logistical problem for [underclassmen] to have study hall.”

As of right now “The Illinois School Code has changed over the past year that now allows underclassmen to opt out of PE and into an athletic study hall,” Stephen Waller, Assistant Principal of Athletics and Facilities says.

The school is currently looking into this for the future, yet Waller explains that one of the concerns of the school is “housing an already overcrowded study hall.” Waller adds that “UHS admin will continue to explore this possibility as another avenue of supporting students.”

While athletic study hall is not available to all as of right now, there is a possibility of it being open to all in the future. It is clear that some logistical problems must first be solved before underclassmen are admitted into athletic study hall.