Cardinal red t-shirts and navy shorts will be the gym fashion next year.

  Starting in the 2018-19 school year, all grade levels will be required to wear a gym uniform in PE classes. The Board of Education recently approved these uniforms in a meeting held in the middle of May.

  The entire outfit will cost $20 dollars. The clothes can be purchased online, at the school store, or at the New Student orientation from August 22nd to the 24th.

  Students eligible for the federal free or reduced lunch program will have access to financial aid for the uniform.

  These uniforms have been implemented for a variety of reasons, with the idea being around since 2000. “These uniforms were supposed to be put in place last year, but they never came to fruition, and many of the gym teachers have been pushing for it for quite some time,” said Coach McGroarty.

 “It’s for safety, identification, and hygiene,” said gym teacher Mrs. Heck.

  One benefit of these uniforms is the easy identification of students in gym classes and in the hallways. Additionally, many students participating in gym activities wear the same clothes in gym that they wear throughout the rest of the school day. This is a hygiene issue, considering that many students perspire during the fifty-minute gym period.

  Doctor Mary Sheu, MD, assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, states that you can get rashes, increase the presence of acne, or acquire a yeast infection.

Mrs. Heck said she knows of students who get changed, but she also knows of those who go into the locker room and don’t change.

  Although Mrs. Heck says the uniforms aren’t “that bad”, junior Linsey Champa thinks it’s a waste for students, especially for those who will be seniors next year.

  “It stinks having to buy them for only one year,” she said.

  Despite this remark, McGroarty said, “It makes getting ready for gym so much easier. You have an outfit pre-selected. All you have to do is put it on”.

 Girls will have basketball shorts that are square and about five inches longer than the boy’s nine inches.

  Coach McGroarty warns students to get a couple sets, that way you will not have to bring them home and wash them everyday.

  Students will be able to wear sweatpants and sweatshirts of their own overtop. Credit will be given as long as teachers know students are wearing the uniform.

  If the uniform is forgotten or only part of it is worn, students can still participate in gym class, but some points will be deducted.

  “You will lose half the points if you don’t have the uniform on at all,” said McGroarty.

  However, you can still boost your grade by earning full participation point in class.

  Regardless, everyone will seriously be rocking the new gym uniforms next school year.