For about a year, AHS teacher Calan Gibney has been dreaming of teaching an IB course of her own featuring all the topics she knows and loves, IB Sport, Exercise, and Health. This upcoming school year, her dream will be coming true.

According to Gibney, the new IB Sport, Exercise, and Health Science course has 6 core topics: anatomy, exercise physiology, energy systems, movement analysis, skill in sport, and measurement and evaluation of human performance. As well as four options where students will pick two to study; optimizing physiological performance, psychology of sport, physical activity and disease, and nutrition for sport, exercise, and health.

This course will be categorized as a science course along with IB Physics and IB Biology. Many people, including Assistant Principal Mark Grice, agree that the course will add more variety to the IB program.

“I think it’s a great idea because it gives us another offering in the science section of the IB curriculum since we only have two science courses as of now,” Grice said.

Before being approved, the idea of this course was bounced around between IB coordinator Ian Wagner, Kim Martin, and Gibney. Before the mandatory approval process within the school for offering new courses, the idea was shared with Stephanie Nixon, the head of the electives department last year.

“Stephanie Nixon was the head of the electives department last year and we are always looking for rigorous electives to offer our students at AHS. We discovered that the Advanced Health curriculum that I created in 2008 was very similar to the IB Sport, Exercise and Health Science course and decided it was best for students to offer the IB curriculum,” Gibney said.

As of now there are twenty-eight students signed up to take this course next year.

“For math it’s different. You know they’re going to take math because they [students] have to for college and for IB Diploma. But for this course, they have a choice because this is sort of an elective IB. So for this many kids to sign up for it first year shows that it definitely interested people,” Grice said.

Numbers aside, the student buzz about the course is positive. Students are excited to expand upon the knowledge acquired in Health and get to work with Calan for two extra years.

“Calan was one of my favorite teachers so I’m really excited to get the chance to spend more time with her,” sophomore Kelsey Fitzgerald said. “I’m a big athlete so I think the things we learn during these two years will be especially helpful to me; and it’s all super interesting.”

Since this year’s sophomores will be the first class to be offered this course, some of this year’s juniors and IB Diploma candidates are feeling jealous.

“If this course was offered to me, I definitely would have taken it instead of IB Business. I’m really jealous of the sophomores,” junior and IB Diploma candidate Jessica Tyler said.

Whether it is in the classroom, the weight room, or during lifeguard training, Gibney is said to be an extremely compassionate, empathetic, well-rounded, and fun educator.

“I had Calan for Health and she was always eager to help students and find new and fun ways to teach information. Even though I’m not taking her new IB course, I am excited to see how it turns out because I think she is an extremely capable teacher and she’ll do great in the IB program,” sophomore Zoe Starensier said.

Gibney has always had a huge passion for sports, exercise, and health so there could be no one better to take on this challenge but her.

“I am excited that our students at AHS have the opportunity to study health and exercise science at the high school level and believe this will be useful for students in their future studies,” Gibney said.