By Umar Samdani, Staff Reporter

Imagine coming home after a long and tedious day of school. As you burst through your door and collapse on your sofa, you consider your schedule for the remainder of the day. Just like any sensible student with countless hours of homework, you settle on taking a nap, lingering around the kitchen and then finally starting your work around 9:00 PM.

As convenient as this schedule may be, it definitively is is not productive. Starting your homework at an untimely hour, sleeping when your brain is most productive and eating unnecessarily are all habits that interfere with studying. Most surprisingly, though, the worst problem about this schedule is the lack of an exercise time. The extended experience option, done by the majority of Conestoga students, serves as the perfect solution.

According to scientificamerican.com, exercise after school helps students with recalling information they have just learned. In fact, this recall boost can carry over to the next day, effectively helping students perform better on tests. This benefit, along with many more, has caused extended experience to be so popular.

The extended experience epidemic serves as a way for students to complete their gym credit outside of school. This can be done with a variety of ways, including regular attendance at a personal gym, competing in a seasonal sport and participating in some of Conestoga’s extracurricular physical activities.

Among the many reasons why extended experience is so popular is its convenience. Not only does the option allow students to have more freedom when they are scheduling classes, but it also gives them an opportunity to earn credit for an activity they may already do regularly.

Junior Daniel Xu enjoys taking advantage of the convenience extended experience offers:

“I love how I can use extended experience to do other things also. Sometimes I can work out on the bike [at the YMCA] while also reading my book for school,” said Xu.

In addition to its convenience, extended experience is also a way for students to effectively break up their study schedule. Instead of taking a nap or constantly eating, a motivation to go to the gym can be the perfect break to a study session. Sophomore Muhammad Abadallah feels more productive after he regularly attended his local gym:

“I feel I can break up my day much better and focus on homework after my workout,” said Abadallah.

Despite its numerous benefits, extended experience does have minor drawbacks. With so much freedom, many students are incited to feign their workout dedication, or not take it as seriously. But these drawbacks can be regulated, as facilities such as the YMCA and Lifetime now have sign-in sheets to monitor how often students workout.

For students looking to workout after school and receive school credit for doing so, extended experience is a perfect choice. Not only can it be convenient, but it also leads to greater productivity, focus and recollection. Although the system can be abused, to the diligent and honest student it will continue to be an excellent alternative.

Umar Samdani can be reached at [email protected]