By Ariana Lopez ’18
Over the years, the Physical Education Department at Pritzker has consistently prioritized one thing: Sexual Education. In some states, schools choose not to offer Sex-Ed as a course. The Noble Network, on the other hand, has made it a requirement for Noble students to take and pass a Sex Ed course.
While Sex Ed has been a consistent course at Pritzker, it hasn’t always portrayed the same message. Until a few years ago, Pritzker and all Noble schools used to promote abstinence-only courses, abstinence being the act of not partaking in any sexual actions. P.E. teacher and member of the P.E. Health Team Sarah Cross stated, “Sex Ed at Pritzker has changed every year since I started working at Pritzker. At first, the curriculum was abstinence-only, which meant we could only tell students not to have sex.” Mark Rychlik, head of the P.E. department and Football Coach at Pritzker, agreed with Cross. “The sex ed portion was one word: ‘Abstinence,’” stated Rychlik.
One big step Pritzker took in turning Sex Ed into a “comprehensive curriculum,” as stated by Rychlik, was including LGBTQ related information into their lessons. The class now teaches ways to have protected sex for people of different sexual orientations. Not only did the Health Department agree on including other types of education, but they also provided education that fits for more students, which is a large step.
The Noble Health Department had to all agree on these changes. Creating this course in a way that benefitted and informed students at an equal degree was difficult. “Each summer, a small team of teachers from across the network gets together to discuss and modify the curriculum. The PE/Health team has been meeting and making changes for the last three years,” stated Cross. A team called the “Hedgehog team” was the group of teachers in charge of creating and approving the curriculum.
At the end, both teachers are proud of the courses they have taught this year. While they still recognize that there is still work to be done. “[Our] goal has always been to empower students through education. I want to remove the taboo of the subject so students can take ownership of their bodies and their sexual health. When I hear students ask questions in class that they aren’t embarrassed about, when I hear girls speak confidently about their periods, when I hear students discussing consent outside of class, I feel like we have accomplished something important,” stated Cross. Along with Cross, we all hope that for not only us, but future generations, the idea of sex is not only easy to talk about, but accessible to all people.
Over the years, the Physical Education Department has prioritized one thing: Sexual Education. In some states, schools choose not to offer Sex-Ed as a course. The Noble Network, on the other hand, has made it a requirement for Noble students to take and pass a Sex-Ed course.
While Sex-Ed has been a consistent course in Pritzker, it hasn’t always portrayed the same message. Before a couple years ago, Pritzker used to promote abstinence-only courses. Abstinence being the act of not partaking in any sexual actions. P.E. teacher and member of the P.E. Health Team, Sarah Cross stated, “Sex Ed at Pritzker has changed every year since I started working at Pritzker. At first, the curriculum was abstinence-only, which meant we could only tell students not to have sex.” Mark Rychlik, head of the P.E. department at Pritzker, football coach, and also a P.E. teacher, agreed with Cross. “The sex ed portion was one word: “Abstinence,”” stated Rychlik.
One big step Pritzker took in turning Sex-Ed into a “comprehensive curriculum,” as stated by Rychlik, was including LGBTQ related information into their lessons.The class now teaches ways to have protected sex for people of different sexual orientations. Not only did the Health Department agree on including other types of education, but they provided education that fit for everyone, which is a large step.
As mentioned before, the Health Department had to all agree on these changes. Creating this course in a way that benefitted and informed students at an equal degree was difficult. “Each summer, a small team of teachers from across the network gets together to discuss and modify the curriculum. The PE/Health team has been meeting and making changes for the last three years,” stated Cross. A team called the “Hedgehog team” was the group of teachers in charge of approving the curriculum.
At the end, both teachers are proud of the courses they have taught. While they still recognize that there is still work to be done. “[Our] goal has always been to empower students through education. I want to remove the taboo of the subject so students can take ownership of their bodies and their sexual health. When I hear students ask questions in class that they aren’t embarrassed about, when I hear girls speak confidently about their periods, when I hear students discussing consent outside of class, I feel like we have accomplished something important,” stated Cross. Along with Cross, we all hope that for not only us, but future generations, the idea of sex is not only easy to talk about, but accessible to people of all differences.
