School offered phys ed credits for helping community members with yard maintenance

FILE PHOTO: Students at an Iowa school earned school credit if they did yard work for elderly and disabled neighbors.

Credit: Pexels/Pixabay

Credit: Pexels/Pixabay

FILE PHOTO: Students at an Iowa school earned school credit if they did yard work for elderly and disabled neighbors.

A school in Iowa helped not only their students but the community too with an alternative way to earn credit for physical education classes.

Students at the Alternative Learning Center in Dubuque, Iowa, were given the opportunity to earn credit for gym class while lending a hand to their neighbors who could not maintain their yards either because of their age or a disability, KWWL reported.

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For the last two weeks of school, students were able to help cut grass, pull weeds and even clean gutters with the hard work done outside helping their grades inside the school, according to KWWL.

But not only did work get done and the grades boosted, but it also taught kids a good lesson, even if they didn’t seem excited to start the heavy lifting.

"The students aren't typically too excited at the beginning, but once they get involved and start doing the yard work, they become more motivated. What they really like is helping people. They really like giving back to people and meeting the person," teacher Tim Hitzler told KWWL.

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