Students Do Yard Work For Senior Citizens To Earn Physical Education Credits

Aug 23, 2019 by apost team

Students at a Dubuque, Iowa school are taking the time to help people who cannot help themselves. It is all part of a physical education program that the Alternative Learning Center came up with.

Students are able to choose their own activity as a way to earn physical education credits during their last two weeks of school. Going to the home of a person who is elderly or has disabilities and performing yard work is one of the options the students have, KWWL reports.

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Tim Hitzler, a teacher at the school in Iowa, spoke about the program:

“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," he said to KWWL.

He said that the student’s favorite part of the project is getting to see how happy they have made the person on the receiving end of the work. The teacher also added that volunteering in town is a way to help those in the community, but also a way to help the students themselves.

Many people jumped on social media to praise the teachers and the students for the program. Most people believed it was a win-win for everyone. People in need get their yard work done, and the students get to receive some exercise.

One commenter mentioned that yard work is a great way to get people active as well as connect with others in their community. Another person stated that they loved the idea of getting physical education in a different way. They said that it is still physical and definitely an education for the students.

The federal government changed the recommendation for the amount of physical activity a person should get. They now recommend that a child between the ages of 6 to 17 participate in at least an hour of exercise every day. The government guidelines stressed that it is really important to participate in physical activity, and talked about the risks involved if a person is not at all active.

What did you think of this program? Should kids be doing yard work or should they run around the track for P.E. instead? Leave us a comment and be sure to pass this on!