Have you been a victim of the classic physical education (PE) experience? Maybe you’ve found yourself gasping for air after being instructed to run a mile under 12 minutes, or perhaps your school had a mandatory swim test that left you nauseous and soaking in the bacteria-infested locker room. You may have stayed up all night before taking the infamous pacer test, which every middle schooler knows not only measures the important skill of running back and forth in a gym, but acts as a numerical evaluation of your self-worth.
If you resonate with any of these examples and your past PE experience has traumatized you into dreading this GE, fear not. The Claremont Colleges offer an abundance of PE classes to ensure the provision of fun and accessible opportunities. Students can learn about activities that truly spark their interests and move their bodies.
Harvey Mudd College, Pomona College and Claremont McKenna College have physical education requirements for all their students. Meanwhile, Pitzer College and Scripps College students are encouraged to participate in the various PE classes offered each semester — however, it is not a graduation requirement.
Despite the necessity of enrollment for some students at the Claremont Colleges, PE classes accomplish more than fulfilling a requirement. They give students the opportunity to take time off from studying and enrich themselves in a different way. There are over 130 PE classes open for students to sign up and make a commitment to developing skills in any sport or activity they desire. The classes cater to a variety of learning levels (beginners, intermediate and advanced), along with interests in different categories of sports.
Lily Truelove PO ’25 has taken three PE classes at the 5Cs, including beginners tennis, beginners pickleball and kundalini yoga. She said she keeps signing up because it is a good way to take advantage of her school’s resources and get moving.
“I like taking PE classes because it gives me a reason to get out of my room and get a little bit of exercise, especially tennis and pickleball because they are both outside,” Trulove said.
The wide variety of classes each semester helps students find PE classes that work with their schedule, whether that be to satisfy a yearning for hardcore pickleball or to relax with meditative yoga. Trulove said she sees the benefit of the diversity of options.
“Pickleball is really nice to just get outside and get a little sun, while my kundalini yoga class took place at night so it was honestly a nice way to wind down at the end of the day,” Trulove said.
Having taken three intermediate tennis classes, Colin McAfee PO ’25 is a seasoned 5C PE-er. According to him, the wide range of classes offered is very exciting. Most recently, he and some friends enrolled in the Tai Chi Sword Class.
“[When looking through the portal] I got to the word ‘sword’ and I was like, ‘Well, we have to take it,’” McAfee said. “So five of my friends and I signed up for it because we wanted to play with swords.”
McAfee said that many PE classes are populated by students finding an excuse to play games and do activities with friends and suitemates. He emphasized the naturally social nature of these courses and the joy he got from engaging in a shared activity with friends.
“Because of that lack of stress [of these courses] … and partially because tennis is inherently a shared activity [we have fun],” McAfee said. “You’re pairing up, and you’re playing with people every single class.”
Another one of the advantages of taking a PE class as a college student is that it prepares students to incorporate fitness in their lives after college. Having a class twice a week that requires physical participation helps students practice healthy habits.
Elyssa Hawkins, a physical education instructor and assistant water polo coach for Pomona-Pitzer, said that taking a PE class can benefit a student’s overall college experience in many ways.
“You get to accumulate life skills for how to incorporate fitness into your daily routine and try something new while on campus,” Hawkins said. “It’s also a great outlet from the stress of class work, and you can produce positive brain chemicals.”
Physical education classes help develop a confidence in skills that you otherwise would never be able to learn in an academic setting. Plus, you can get credit for taking them!
“I’ve seen students grow in confidence when it comes to swimming and others happy to have an outlet for a type of fitness that they may not otherwise be able to do during the day,” said Hawkins.
According to Hawkins, these classes give students the chance to take a step back and dip into some of the more fun and unique resources at the 5Cs. She said that PE classes show students that even though they are venturing into the scary process that is entering the adult world, they can still learn new sports and hobbies without feeling judgment and pressure.
“It’s that act of play that returns college students who are overstressed 20-somethings trying to be pre-professional and trying to be as smart as they possibly can,” Hawkins said. “PE does a good job of returning them back to that state of play.”
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