by Leah Bishop
April 17, 2025

GCC students who are looking to pursue a career in physical education got the opportunity to participate in an amazing opportunity through the Arena Club organized by Becky Dziekan, the director of the Physical Education at GCC. This opportunity allowed students to get a taste of what their future jobs might look like, and gain experience in the field of physical education.

Arena Club advisor and Instructor of Health and Physical Education, Krystal Forsyth, a SUNY Brockport graduate from Pavilion, New York, emphasized the importance to her of giving students who would like to be in the physical education or related coaching fields, the opportunity to begin to practice their teaching skills.

The principal of St. Paul Lutheran School in Batavia reached out to GCC and asked if anyone would be interested in coming to their school and teaching a phys ed class for their students. St. Paul does not offer regular phys ed classes to their students during the school year, so this was a wonderful opportunity that members of the Arena Club quickly jumped on. Forsyth said that it gave students good practice with writing lesson plans and implementing those lesson plans for actual students, so they get to practice their professionalism and teaching skills.

Once the students were working in the school, they created an activity plan that covered about 60 minutes of time and then checked it with Forsyth to make sure that the activities were safe and appropriate for the students at St. Paul. She would also help them with borrowing equipment from GCC if they needed it for the activities they had planned.

Forsyth also said that she observed the classes as well, and she had a lot of fun interacting with the St. Paul students while maintaining the space between her and her students to let them have the full experience with teaching in a school environment.

The Arena Club at GCC offers engagement opportunities with real world experiences. Moments such as this also offer benefits such as resume builders and a show of experience, which is especially important when someone is straight out of college, trying to find a job.

Leadership roles are offered within the Arena Club as well. There is a president, vice president, secretary, and promotional person. These roles help to prepare students for when it comes time to take on those roles in real life to be more comfortable with asking questions and bettering themselves in their field of work. As the coordinator, Forsyth really tries to support and push her students to become more engaged and encourage them to take on opportunities, such as the one with St. Paul, as it will help them in the long run.

Members of the Arena Club and other students have even volunteered again, wanting to go back and teach. Overall the feedback from the GCC students who participated in the volunteer work was extremely positive, and some said they didn t even realize just how much they would appreciate the project.

Working with St. Paul Lutheran School was a positive experience for both the students at GCC and St. Paul. Forsyth said that they had great feedback from the staff and students, understanding that they are still learning and how well this opportunity came through and benefited both sides. In the staff of St. Paul’s words, they were blown away by GCC students skills with what they’ve been taught in the phys ed program.