One school is swapping out these traditional physical education activities for yard work and people are thinking it’s great!
Students at the Alternative Learning Center (ALC) in Dubuque, Iowa, can now receive physical education credit when they help senior citizens or people with disabilities with their landscaping needs but those who receive assistance with their landscaping are not the only beneficiaries.
The school itself is providing an alternative setting for junior and senior high school students who may be struggling to succeed at more traditional schools.
These students were found to be in risk of completely dropping out of school. They concentrate on getting the kids project-based and independent learning opportunities designed to get the students back on the road to graduation.
In specific, the landscaping program has proved useful to both the students and the community. Tim Hitzler, a college teacher, informed KWWL that providing this choice to the kids during the last two weeks of courses would be a wonderful chance for them to give back while at the same moment receiving a workout.
Typical yardwork activities — such as mowing the lawn, cutting the trees, raking leaves, chopping firewood and weeding the garden — can all provide important calorie burning as well as the advantages of your average cardio exercise or strength-building.
Students can also choose to satisfy their P.E. requirement, for example, by cleaning up golf courses or a river barge. Still, Hitzler thinks that what makes the program so impactful is the act of assisting others.
“The students aren’t typically too excited at the beginning but once they get involved and start doing the yard work they become more motivated,” said Hitzler. “What they really like is … helping people. They really like giving back to people and meeting the person.”
The program has been so popular with the students that some of them choose to continue volunteering throughout the summer.
“I’ve had students that graduated that have come back to help,” Hitzler told People. “There’s something about helping people that really need it.”
This is such a good idea! What do you think?
