Photo courtesy of SGHS
Schoolwide athletic survey reveals students’ interests
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New field hockey and wrestling athletic programs are highly requested among San Gabriel High School (SGHS) students, according to the Interscholastic Athletics Student Interest Survey. SGHS conducted the questionnaire to check that the school’s athletic programs comply with Title IX, which states that no student can be denied or discriminated from programs in federally funded schools based on their sex. The survey assesses students’ sport interests; the school will then use the results to improve existing competitive athletic programs and design new ones.
The 16-question survey was posted on SGHS’s website to allow all students to contribute feedback. It inquired about athletes’ experiences on their team, as well as about any potential interest in sports that are not currently offered at SGHS.
“It is to ensure that all schools are, to the best of their abilities because budget and finances are an issue, offering opportunities for students to participate in interscholastic athletics, ” Matthew Dultz, Assistant Principal of Activities, said. “Males and females are given opportunities based on Title IX for equal representation that is in accordance with the school population.”
SGHS consists of 52.7 percent boys and 47.3 percent girls, so the school strives to stay within two percent of those percentages for their student athlete population. According to a 2016-17 Participation Opportunity study, 54.4 percent of the athletic participants are boys and 45.6 percent are girls. This gives a 1.7 percent discrepancy, which is within the two percent limit.
Since the week before Thanksgiving, the survey garnered about 670 responses. With the survey officially closed, Dultz will meet up with administration from Alhambra High School and Mark Keppel High School to discuss how they are going to move forward with survey.
“I was actually the first person to conduct the survey because the other two schools have new administrators,” Dultz said. “Obviously, they don’t know how to [conduct the survey]. We are going to talk about how we did it and the results we got and they are going to do it too.”
Based on the responses, SGHS will determine which sports students are most interested in. However, there is no guarantee that the school will implement them.
“There’s a process to it,” Dultz said. “This is the beginning stage of it; basically, it’s exactly what it says—‘student interest survey.’ Do we have enough students interested to go to the next step in seeing if it’s possible to have that sport available?”
Beyond the demand for the sport, the school must consider other factors. For certain sports, they must look at other schools in the league because it would be difficult for the league to function if few schools offer that specific sport.
“I want to be able to offer things to students, whether it’s sports or other extracurriculars that interest students, and really get them to be part of our school community,” Dultz said. “So whatever we find that the school can financially support, I am all for it.”
