Brewer High School students are going to their physical education classes a little more eagerly this year. The reason? They aren’t the same old phys ed classes anymore.

Gone are the days of going to the gymnasium, changing into shorts and T-shirts in the locker room, and playing floor hockey or tennis for 45 minutes. Thirty-one Brewer students are enrolled in a new program.

“We’re running it with a new type of approach,” said Mark Savage, physical education instructor and varsity soccer and basketball coach at Brewer.

That new approach translates into a class patterned after the Outward Bound program. Outward Bound helps people discover and extend their own physical and mental abilities by confronting them with a series of increasingly difficult challenges.

“That would be a good way to describe it,” Savage said. “I’ve also borrowed a lot of ideas from Walter Abbott’s outdoor preparedness course at the University of Maine.”

Savage’s new phys ed program is also called outdoor preparedness. Students can sign up for either that class or the traditional phys ed program. Savage conducted the new program on a trial basis last year.

Savage intends to increase students’ self-esteem. The program consists of seven units. The units are different types of challenges the students tackle during the school year.

Although a new program like this might arouse fears about injures, Savage said it has been proven to be safer than regular phys ed courses.

The classes spend an average of two to three weeks, or four to five weeks on each unit.

The class is halfway through the second unit – hiking. The first unit involved a rope obstacle course with various activities designed to improve students’ teamwork, creativity, problem-solving ability and self-esteem.

“I had a lot of fun with it,” said student assistant Kim Feher, a senior. “It’s never the same experience.”

The other units are map and compass work, cross country skiing, first aid, camping and canoeing.

Canoeing is the grand finale to the program. The whole class will take a weekend canoe trip near the end of the school year. The trip will allow each student to put the things they learned from the other six units to good use.

The program has met with rave reviews so far.

“The response has been real super,” Savage said. “The kids love it and it’s received a lot of support from the faculty.”

Science teacher Darrell King assists Savage with the class. He will accompany the class on its canoeing trip.

Although the program has been operating on a shoestring budget, Savage has been able to come up with most of the outdoor equipment necessary to accommodate all of the students.

Local businesses have helped Savage with generous discounts on equipment such as camping gear and canoes, and Walter Abbott of Orono has donated a canoe trailer.

Savage is also helped by four student assistants: Feher and sophomores Tony Dennison, Amy Turner and Doug Thompson.

“I thought no one would listen to me because I was an underit wasn’t that way at all,” said Dennison. “It’s great because you become friendly with people you might normally have never even met.”

“It’s great. Not only does it help build up confidence and self-esteem, it helps kids make friends and get to know each other,” said Savage. “And it gives them more of an appreciation for the outdoors.”