Seniors scramble for P.E. credits

Senior Akshay Madhani recently learned he was the valedictorian for the Class of 2014.

Like several other seniors, though, he also had a slight problem: He needs to take P.E. this semester to fulfill graduation requirements.

As second semester started, he sat walked into his first day of P.E. class and sat alone on the bleachers amidst a crowd of underclassmen. When assistant principal Brian Safine spotted Madhani, Safine “literally bent over laughing,” even pointing him out to teacher Richard Ellis and counselor Eileen Allen to laugh along. 

While Madhani has had to endure teasing as one of the few seniors in the school’s P.E. classes, he is not the only one in need of last-minute credits. 

Seniors who have waited to complete credits are often seen as last-minute scramblers, but some students, including Madhani, do so in order to prioritize coursework or other activities in their earlier years.

Senior Katherine Sun, another senior in need of a last few P.E. credits before graduation, is now on the swim team having previously swum freshman year. Sun said that while she did try to do swimming junior year, she quit two weeks in because she knew it would be a lose-lose situation for both her performance in school and in the sport.

“I couldn’t really handle it,” Sun said. “I didn't want to only put half my heart into the things I was doing, so I knew I had to choose.”

As a senior, Sun said that even though her workload hasn’t decreased, it’s been easier to swim because she has gotten better at balancing her schedule. Even so, Sun said that swimming as a senior has been fun and is “pretty much stress free.”

Madhani also said he waited to fulfill his P.E. credits because “second semester [senior year] is generally a bit more relaxed for [these] activities.”

Madhani found it to be a fairly simple transition moving into a class with so many underclassmen. If anything, they were better prepared than he was.

“Many of the underclassmen in P.E. have done it for multiple semesters, so they’ve become strong,” Madhani said. “I sometimes find it hard to keep up with them. In general, it doesn't feel too weird having underclassmen in P.E., though, because I usually end up spending more time with the other seniors and juniors more than I do with them.”

Senior Lauren M. Lin opted to play a sport instead of take P.E. to finish up her credits.  While Sun returned to swimming, a sport she did as an underclassmen, Lin has decided to pursue track, despite having previously played tennis.

With her heavy course load junior year and college applications senior year, Lin too thought it would be more beneficial to focus on academics.

While Lin has never run track before, it is something she meant to try in high school as she considers herself a “casual neighborhood runner.”

Despite only doing track as a senior, Lin has no regrets with how it turned out as it hasn’t been much of an impediment in her life.

“Frankly my legs and butt are really sore, but at least I'll look good in my prom dress,” Lin said.