With the new semester schedule coming next year, students have a large selection of many new classes, including the new physical education class, Yoga and Self Defense.

The class, among many others, will be available to students in the coming year. Assistant principal Doug Faris discussed the general premise of the Yoga and Self Defense class.

“This is an eighteen week [semester course] where Mr. Rahas will go over many of the basic principles for Yoga [stretching, breathing, etc.] and how to defend yourself in an attack,” Faris said.

Faris also talked about the union of yoga and self defense in the course.

“A decision was made that a combination of the courses could be taught within the eighteen week time frame as opposed to eighteen weeks on each. [Mr. Rahas] is planning on bringing real-life applications to the course and either teaching it on a rotating basis [a unit of yoga then unit of self-defense] or nine weeks on each,” Faris said.

The new class will be taught by Teacher Dean Rahas. Rahas talked about what the class will involve.

“The emphasis in the yoga class will be practicing poses and postures designed to develop flexibility, muscular strength and muscular endurance. The students in the self-defense class will learn how to physically and verbally defend themselves, but more importantly how to recognize and avoid potential violence through environmental and situational awareness,” Rahas said.

The class will incorporate different elements from both sports, much like how the new schedule will be incorporating new elements to add to the student experience. Principal Phil King talked about how next year’s schedule will differ from previous years.

“We will have a seven period day in which we’ll have seven evenly distributed class periods.  We will also have during one of those periods a lunch, so that period will be longer, similar to what we have now with four lunches but we will have three lunches instead. There will be a rotation like there is now, I think it will be 5th period, 5A, 5B, 5C. Our passing time between classes will be five minutes instead of seven because the periods are shorter,” King said.

The new schedule will also be integrating a new event called Minuteman Time. This event will occur every week. King elaborated on the subject.

“It (Minuteman Time) will be about 23-25 minutes. That time is being set aside for students to have meetings, get tutoring, have an opportunity to just relax and take a break which we’re finding teenagers need that more and more for their own mental well-being and health and safety,” King said.

The new schedule comes with many new classes that offer different things to students. Faris listed some of the new courses that will be available to students in the coming years.

“Yoga & Self Defense, Anatomy & Physiology, Revere Acapella (music), Chorale (music), STEM classes (Intro to Engineering & Design, Principles of Engineering, Civil Engineering & Architecture, & Engineering Design & Development), Coding, & Intro to App Development.  Some courses have changed titles but kept the same content,” Faris said.

Superintendent Matthew Montgomery touched on process of choosing the new classes being offered.

“This year, we had high school [administrators] come up with. . . different electives and courses that could be offered to meet the needs of the student body,” Montgomery said.