New to the gym class curriculum this year are the replacement of the old heart rate monitors to the new bluetooth heart rate monitors called ‘Bubbles’.
“One of the biggest reasons we switched is because it’s actually more cost effective to the school district because the watches were getting older, so we had to keep sending them in for repairs, which was starting to add up,” said life fitness department chair Tim Hough.
Money is not the only reason the school switched, of course. The technology of the heart rate monitors has changed since the school last purchased the watch.
“One reason we switched was because of the technology changes; the company we use is outsourcing our old ones. They aren’t made anymore,” said physical education teacher Jesse Wolter.
The new bluetooth monitors have benefits for both the teachers and the students in many ways. The current heart rate monitors being used give better information for the teachers.
“[We as teachers] like having the immediate feedback so we can see how the kids are doing and motivate them to do better and work harder,” Wolter said.
The new monitors show that there are benefits for both the teachers and students.

“I like the new heart rate monitors because they are quicker to set up and they are a new advance in technology,” said senior Andrea Hesse.
Although there are many benefits to the new monitors, they are still new, meaning there are still some issues they are trying to fix in the upcoming weeks.
“The main disadvantage I can see is that the bluetooth connection only goes so far so the run/walk is a little tough, because when the kids are in the track they lose connection. This just means that we need to be more creative as teachers,” Wolter said.
We are not the only school using these new bluetooth versions of the heart rate monitors, but before Central switches, they will come and look at how we use them.
“Grayslake Central are coming to see how they work because they are planning to switch to the new ones next year,” Wolter said.