It is a truth universally acknowledged that students at Saint Stephen’s must be in need of an athletic credit to complete their graduation requirements. However little known the interests or extracurricular activities pursued by students, they are mandated to participate in two complete seasons of Saint Stephen’s athletics. 

Jane Austen references aside, is it time for the current athletic graduation requirement, which have been in place for more than 30 years, to get an update? 

In order to fulfill the current athletic requirement, students must play on an SSES athletics team for two seasons, or support a team as a manager or photographer. With such a big time commitment, the sports requirement begins to take away the time students could use for the extracurriculars they’re truly interested in, like the academic team, Model U.N., or musical.  

Of course, the basis of the athletic requirement is reasonable. It exists to facilitate student fitness and wellness, and, according to Interim Upper School Assistant Director Mr. Moore, the stipulation introduces students to new activities.

“The sports requirement encourages students to be involved in the life of the school outside of the classroom,” Moore said.

It’s true that sports do get you involved outside the classroom, but so do many other things, such as joining clubs like Mock Trial and the Model U.N; participating in student government; performing in the school musical; and competing on the academic team. Why shouldn’t some of these things, things which take your time after school and build skill sets you’ve chosen, earn you extracurricular “credit” required to graduate?

Should we require every student to act in a school play?  Every football player to serve in Mock Trial?

Think about it. Members of the academic team practice as a group for two hours a week and represent the school regularly at competitions. They have proven to be formidable opponents to other teams in the area, and have come home as district champions eight times in the past nine years. In addition, the A-Team recently had their first county-wide competition of the year, where they came in first place. 

And yet, this hardworking team is not given the recognition credit-wise that other Saint Stephen’s teams receive. While student athletes get credit towards graduation for their efforts representing our school on the playing fields, members of our academic team do not. 

Junior Karli McMahan is a member of the Academic Team, and she believes the sports requirement does not benefit students who are and who don’t have an interest in sports.  

“With the current athletic requirements, they don’t offer you alternative options if you don’t do a sport,” McMahan commented. “There’s very little options for you to do other things.” 

Competing on the academic team should at least earn you half of a credit, equivalent to the credit given by playing a season of sports. Student athletes and academic team members both put in long hours for their extracurricular, and they both bring awards in for the school. So that being said, should they not both earn a credit? 

Better yet, the requirement could be renamed to an “extracurricular credit” to accommodate students whose interests lie outside the athletic realm.

This issue doesn’t just apply to the academic team. When asked, many Falcons shared that they would like to see alternative options to athletic credits given to students in the musical, as this extracurricular involves a large time commitment.  Not to mention, participating in school plays requires physical aspects in addition to time, both of which are key pillars in the basis for the current requirements.

The Saint Stephen’s promise is “Every child will be known, and every child will be valued,” and what is a better way to be known and valued than being told that your time, passions, and energy matters? The SSES academic team deserves the honor to be an official team, just like cross country, and receive a credit that fulfills the requirement.