Two years ago, the Park Forest Middle School Health & PE Department was awarded a $50,000 grant from the Highmark Foundation. With that grant, we created a "fitness lab," fully equipped with cardio machines and other fitness center equipment. As part of the grant initiative, students in health class will have a slightly different experience than students in the past. For half of the year, students will be in the traditional health classroom.  For the other half of the year, students will be in the fitness lab portion of the class. This means that students will be changing into physical activity attire for each class and engaging in hands-on learning. Students will be learning fitness concepts and body systems while being able to directly apply and practice what they are learning. For example, when students are learning about the muscular system, they will be able to learn the muscles while learning how to use the weight machines to increase their muscular strength and endurance. Please check out the video below for a more detailed view of what the fitness lab looks like!