PALM Program Offers CofC Students Healthy Ways to Earn Credit
With over 30 elective courses, the Physical Activity and Lifetime Movement Program allows students to stay active while earning credits!
Above: CofC students stay healthy and active for life with courses in the PALM Program, including Beginning Surfing!
As a busy college student, it can be easy to put health and fitness on the back burner. With exams, assignments and projects, it can be difficult to maintain an active lifestyle, especially in a new environment.
Luckily, the College of Charleston’s PALM Program offers the perfect way to stay active while earning credits! The Physical Activity and Lifetime Movement Program offers over 30 elective courses, including personal fitness classes, team sports and lifestyle activities.
SURFING
Spending time on the beach and earning credits at the same time? What could be better than that? Students participating in Beginning Surfing courses spend three hours a week on one of Charleston’s beautiful beaches, practicing and learning how to ride waves safely and responsibly. Students learn about the etiquette and history of surfing while having fun in the sun!
These courses are for every skill level, interest and talent a student may have. Courses include pickleball, sailing, yoga, surfing, women’s self-defense, ice skating, basketball, paddleboarding, African dance and many more!
But PALM classes offer many more benefits than progressing your fitness goals and earning two credits toward your graduation requirement.
“Mental health, social health and physical health are the three main bonuses of PALM courses,” says Tom Carroll, associate chair of the Department of Applied Exercise Science, who has been the director of the PALM Program for almost a decade and has introduced 12 new courses during that time. “We are in a unique situation to address all three through our classes.”
The PALM program strives to make an impact on not only students’ physical wellbeing, but their mental health as well. Studies show that exercising a few times a week can make a significant difference in stress levels, which is extremely important to busy college students. Carroll implements this in every course he oversees.
“I really believe in balance – I believe in the mind-body connection, and we provide that,” he says. “It’s complementary to the classes that are a little harder academically; we give students a break.
“Classes are about 85% movement, 15% content,” he adds. “If you ever see a lecture happening in a pickleball course, it’s for about 10 minutes, then the rest of the time they’re playing out on the court, learning new skills safely.”
PICKLEBALL
Want to learn the trendiest sport of the year? Pickleball is another one of our fantastic physical activity courses. This sport is offered either on its own or paired with badminton, another sport once seemingly lost in time that has surged in popularity within the past few years. The course covers the history, skills, rules and techniques used in pickleball, with many hours spent playing.
The team-sport courses also facilitate new connections between students who might not otherwise interact daily.
“Bonds are formed differently in physical activity courses than they would in a traditional class, sitting at a desk,” says Carroll.
BASKETBALL & VOLLEYBALL
Could you be the next Michael Jordan? Basketball and volleyball fanatics can take a course that covers both sports together. Focusing on the history, skill and technique of both sports, this course fills up quickly and is one of the most popular.
If team sports aren’t for you, the program also offers online classes like Couch to 5K and Introduction to Fitness that can be completed through health-tracking apps or in a student’s own home.
Whatever your path to wellness and wellbeing, you can find it through the PALM Program – and get credit for it at the same time!
