Students Enjoy Fun PE Classes

By STUTI GUPTA Sun Contributor

Every Cornell student must take two physical education courses before they graduate. However, beyond some of the standard courses like swimming and bowling, Cornell also offers unusual physical education courses, including caving, skiing and scuba diving.

Cornell’s unique physical education classes often allow students to explore new geographic locations and interests. Hannah Denton ’23, a student instructor for Physical Education 1630: Caving, said she enjoys the excitement of venturing into caves around Ithaca.

“We’re in a really inhospitable place for a human, and yet we’re going down there just to explore,” Denton said. “[We’re] not really there for any other necessary reason except to go see what it’s like.”

The required physical education classes can also help students stay active during

Ithaca’s long winters. Danni Liu ’24 chose to take Physical Education 1330: Beginner Downhill Skiing this spring.

“A lot of my friends asked me if I wanted to go skiing during the break, but I had never been before, so I didn’t know how to ski,” Liu said. “I felt like I missed an opportunity to have fun with my friends, so that’s why I’m choosing to take this class.”

For students like Denton, these classes are a way to build confidence, both in the sport and more generally as well.

“I’m not an adrenaline junkie by any stretch of the imagination,” Denton said. “I am super scared, my palms are sweating just talking to you about [caving]. But that sense of accomplishment that you get from conquering some sort of fear or apprehension has been kind of addicting to me.”

The varying structures of physical education courses and the wide range of students taking each course allow people to meet and form strong rela- tionships with others of different backgrounds. The skiing course, for example, meets once a week for around five hours, whereas caving is a week-long course that ends with a weekend camping trip near the caves.

“We have a campfire at night and we roast marshmallows and have s’mores, and we talk about our experience at Cornell,” Denton said. “Some of the students are undergraduates, and some of them are graduate students, so it’s really fun to hear people’s stories and learn about different walks of life.”

Though these courses increase accessibility to different activities and allow students to meet others of different backgrounds, this increased exposure only reaches a certain extent. The course expenses may deter students who cannot afford to take the class, shaping the demographics of the classes.

According to Cornell’s course roster, the fee for caving is $325 for the Spring 2023 semester.