Remember your high school gym class? We’re going to guess it looked nothing like the one we found at an alternative school in Iowa.
“The last couple weeks of the school year, all the teachers do something different for physical education – one teacher will do kayaking, another will do biking – I just wanted to do something different,” said Tim Hitzler, a social studies teacher at the Alternative Learning Center in Dubuque.
The “different” he came up with: yard work. 
That’s right. Students in 11th and 12th grades can choose to cut grass, trim hedges, pull weeds and rake up yard waste for people in their community who could use the help. In exchange, the students get physical education credits to fulfill their high school PE requirement.
“I’m a big fan of kids learning practical life skills,” Tim said, “and I also know there are a lot of people who are physically disabled and elderly that can’t do the work themselves and a lot of times they can’t afford to have it done; so I thought put two and two together and it’s a win-win for everybody.”
Tim hatched his yard-work-as-gym-class idea five years ago. It did not go over big with school leaders.
“I pushed hard to do it because I thought it was a good idea.”
Just imagine it: you’re a high school student and you get to sign up for non-traditional PE activities. Here are some of your choices: kayaking, biking, hiking, fishing, and disc golf. Oh, and yard work. Which would you choose?
“One of the arguments against it was no kid is going to choose to do yard work over kayaking and I said I disagree,” Tim remembers. “I think some kids will choose it. And they did.”
“To be honest with you, we get as many kids taking this as any of the other choices.”
Tim admits that at the beginning of each sign-up period, students aren’t terribly excited about doing yard work.
“They know it’s a good thing and they want to help out, but they’re not like super pumped about it. But about half of the students who do it, they do it again.”
“There are a few reasons: one is a sense of pride and achievement. When you clean up somebody’s yard, you see what it looks like when you get there and you see what it looks like when you leave. There’s a big difference and that’s rewarding.”
“Another reason they come back is the people. When you go to some of these yards, somebody’s house, and you see them and they’re in a walker or a wheelchair or whatever, most people are going to be impacted by that. The students see why they’re there. And the people are very appreciative. It’s a rewarding thing and it feels good.”
That’s why, five years later, the school’s yard-work project is still going strong.
The Alternative Learning Center is designed for at-risk high school juniors and seniors; the course work offered is an alternative to what is traditionally found in high school.
“You get to see a different side of kids,” Tim said. “A lot of my kids are not wired to be in school and sit in the classroom, it’s just not who they are. So here, they get out and they get to do something. It’s just neat to see that.”
Tim says his yard work gym class is “probably my favorite point in the school year.” “The kids work their tail off and they hold their head a little higher when they’re done.”
“To be honest, I think we need more of that stuff. I think there’s something in our DNA that likes doing that type of stuff. It’s very gratifying.”