Obesity in the U.S. today is a rapidly growing problem. It is not always cheap to be healthy and eat a good diet. The cost of organic foods is much more expensive than fast food and snacks. It is also not in everyone’s budget to own a gym membership. Today, 1 in 3 children and teens are either overweight or obese., and about 17% of children and adolescents are obese. Obesity is easy to recognize but difficult to treat.

If schools do not have the resources for students to be active, this problem can get worse. As we know, pizza and ice cream are available to students at every lunch as well as burgers and tacos as the main course. Not only does our school serve unhealthy foods, but it does not provide students with an up to date aerobics room. If more kids had access to good workout equipment, more students could be healthy. 

The machines in the aerobics room are mostly old or broken. The room is dusty and posts a hazard for students. Compared to the weight room, the importance of cardio exercise is missing the mark by far. The aerobics room lacks diversity in the equipment. Most students just use the room for the use of the TV.

When asked, a student tells us how they feel about the aerobics room: “It is wasted space because it is gross and not utilized.” The student also says, “I pay for my own gym membership because the weight room and aerobics room are both not always readily available and they are too cramped.” Many students here tend to have the same thoughts about this room. Students would be more likely to work out if we had better-equipped rooms that were always available. Another student claims, “We use the room during basketball timeouts. The room is tiny and absurd, you can’t even do workouts.” 

Gardy O’Flynn, one of the high school gym teachers, has shared his thoughts and information on this room: “The aerobics room was last updated by me 7 years ago. We tried to write a grant to update it but it got rejected. We put in the Apple TV to for other exercise options.” He says they are trying to get rid of old machines and they reached out to the YMCA, trying to obtain new ones. Some students really do work out in the room. There is morning yoga every Monday and Friday, and the TV has a playlist of assorted workouts they can do with some of the equipment that is available. Although most of the equipment is outdated or broken, there are some uses for the aerobics room. It provides extra space for TRX workouts, dance, and yoga. 

It is evident that the aerobics room needs a lot of help and updating. Many students are angry and upset about the condition of this room, and some are even disappointed with the weight room as well. Gardy is trying to obtain new equipment and better the room for the benefit of students and benefit for the whole school. As this room grows, more students will be more likely to use the aerobics room and to workout. If students have a more reliable place to workout during the day, for free, it would be beneficial to all and increase the health of students.