Pekin High School - Pekinian Yearbook (Pekin, IL)

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Coach Joe Venturi gives instruction for basketball in P.E. class. Jump Rope-a-thon attracted more than 60 West Campus students to help raise funds for the American Heart Association. Sheila Thompson and Chris Olt anticipate the next swing of the rope. If you can't participate in regular P.E., you'll find alternatives as Donna Russell chose, the exercycle. Physical Education 25

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Students Shape Up In 'Conditioning' Dave Jones waits to return a serve in a ping pong game during an adaptive physical education class at West Campus. Hangnails, headaches, and ingrown toenails are a few of the many excuses P.E. coaches have heard repeatedly for years. However, many students are now getting involved with physical conditioning. Physical conditioning, one of the new P.E. classes on each campus this year, combines both jogging and weight training into one class. Improving health, toning the body, and relieving daily tension are some of the benefits of physical conditioning. The P.E. electives such as tennis, soccer, basketball, and flag football are enjoyed as competitive sports. Shaping up in conditioning class is an aim students strive for individually, with their own rate of progress. Coach Marshall Stoner, chairman of the P.E. Department, comments, I am really impressed with the way the young people are getting involved with the physical conditioning program. I believe they are more aware of what exercising can do to the body. They now know that exercising can make a person feel 100% better. The two coaches for this class are Rick Shemansky and Jack Stoudt. Coach Stoner says he is very pleased with the way they are getting students involved with the program. Stoner adds, They are using a new way to figure the amount of fat a person has on his body using skin calipers. What they do is grasp a fold of skin from the upper arm or waist and measure the thickness of the skinfold. They also figure heart rate while resting and after exercising. The red and white uniforms required for P.E. may be a reason more people are participating in the P.E. program, according to Stoner. He believes everyone will participate if they are all dressed the same. Another new activity presented to the students this year is pickle ball, a combination of badminton and tennis. This game has become very popular with students at PCHS. The only activity dropped since last year is gymnastics because of liability reasons. Weight training, an important part of physical conditioning, is strewed by Pekin PE faculty and coaching. John Bettler checks out another student with the barbells.

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Mental Awareness Taught In Health How fat are you? Pinch an inch and find out! That's one practical application (a skinfold test of health taught as part of physical fitness. Health is a required course for freshmen, enforced not only by the school but by the state of Illinois. At the senior level, Health is a more involved subject to take. Topics involve different parts of the human body and more advanced body functions. Health students also learn about defense mechanisms, another practical application of the class. For example, when a person starts gaining weight, he may not admit that he eats too much. Instead he says, I have a low metabolism, or my parents 'make' me clean up my plate. When students receive a poor grade on a paper or project they may also seem to blame it on the teacher by saying, He just doesn't like me, or I didn't like the class any way and my counselor made me take it. In addition, at least one filmstrip is usually seen during each chapter. There are all kinds of mental and physical discussions. Information is provided on the parts of the brain, bones, muscles, and a major body organs. Freshman year may seem to be a little embarressing with some of the major body organs. But if a student chooses to take it again senior year, he may view it more maturely. classes freshman and senior year. The freshman course teaches more or less the basics such as nutrition, sex education, and how to avoid doctors who are quacks. At the senior level, it is a matter of review and added detail. •Vhile heart attacks aren't typical emergencies among the high school age population. Instructor Dan Metz warns that emergencies that require CPR techniques may occur when one least expects it. Keeping an emotional and mental health balance is important. Health class teachers encourage behavior goals, holiday cheer during Christmas week. There are relatively few differences between the Health Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation in practice may help this East Campus Health student to save someone's life in an emergency situation. 26 Health