To escape all of the stress that comes with the ‘final stretch’ of the school year, approximately seventy students went with Mr. Boll and other P.E. teachers on a field trip to Jones Beach on April 26, 2023.

“I really enjoyed the openness and how we were allowed to pretty much just roam the boardwalk and have fun,” said junior Aiden O. 

P.E. teacher Edward Boll highlights the workings of the field trip and some potential plans for the future. 

“They’re all real life units that we handle here in phys. ed. from recreation and we thought it would be nice to cross curriculum and invite the photography and the painting for art so we recognize different departments and all the different needs for all the students. Next time we do it we’re going to try and include the zipline course, the adventure course, and probably invite the science department, and just kind of keep branching into different departments,” said Boll. 

Other students commented on some of their favorite activities. 

“[It was a] nice day for students to just relax; a nice peaceful day. I really enjoyed the spikeball. We had a fun mini tournament,” said junior Chastain C. 

Junior Anna M. also notes her love for spikeball and the opportunities that the physical education class had in her life so far. 

“[My] favorite part [was] probably playing spikeball on the beach, because I’ve really improved my spikeball game through this gym class. I think it’s a great opportunity going forward for gym classes that should be a tradition kept for years to come. I don’t know if I would really change anything,” said Anna M. 

This field trip also allowed for students to de-stress as they face the upcoming exam seasons. 

“I think it did help me because I had a lot of stress on exams that I have to take so it was a very nice field trip,” said junior Sam J.  

Some of the students noticed the benefits of being outdoors and the opportunity to ditch their screens and be in the moment. 

“I liked the freedom, we were allowed to do pretty much whatever we wanted to do pretty much whenever we wanted to do it for however long we wanted to do it, and [having] the variety. I feel like not a lot of people were on their phones. People were actually interacting and not worrying about everything going on outside of the trip. It was just a nice little vacation,” said senior Brianna M. 

Boll also emphasized the importance of going outside and the overall impact of the field trip. 

“You have everything […] I think we hit every fitness [area] and in this day and age, kids don’t get out and just play anymore. So just to be able to go out and socialize and have a day and put your phones away for a while, I thought it went great. It was a great trip,” said Boll.🔳