Melanie Rodriguez

No assignments, just an hour of exercise twice a week. This was a pass fail class and you could miss a total of 6 days and still pass the class, very lenient.

This class is attendance graded. You get up to 6 absences and then you fail the class.

The class is attendance based and P/F. You have six absences. I suggest going to classes if you're able to, because that way you can wrap up the 18 compulsory classes you need to pass much before LDOC I know a lot of us were done before Thanksgiving break).

Didn’t have much of an expectation, knew what I was getting into by joining the course. It definitely left my legs and abs in pain, planks are not for the weak. Professor was kind and welcoming, just don’t come in more than 5 minutes late because she won’t let you in. Overall good course that did help me feel more energized throughout the day.

I have mixed feelings about this class, and two different recommendations. If you are a person who is never late to class and is diligent about attendance, I recommend this class because it's one of the easiest to fulfill that PE requirement. However, if you are the type of person to run a little late or skip class if you don't feel like going, this class is not the one for you. There is a 5 minute grace period after class starts, and Melanie keeps a watch on her and literally watches the minutes tick by at the beginning of class. If you're walking up the stairs to the classroom as the clock strikes the end of that 5 minute grace period, you will be marked absent. If you hand is on the door handle opening the door as that last minute ends, she will mark you absent. Also, you can't have your phone (or Apple Watch, any device that gets texts) at all in this class, and you will get in trouble if she sees it. No headphones or AirPods are allowed either. No snacks or drinks (except water) allowed either. If you do take this class, I STRONGLY recommend that you save all your absences until the end of the semester so you can stop coming early, trust me you will want this luxury during finals season.

Like someone else said, this class will give you a good foundation for your future fitness goals and endeavours. Melanie explained all the exercises and how to properly use equipment. This is also a great class to hang out with people in (kind of, haha) because you'll often get grouped/paired off to do your workouts together, which is always fun! Good balance between cardio and strength training, and there is a certain degree to which you can tailor workouts to fit your needs.

Since this is a pass/fail class, it's pretty chill. The only thing that Mel was pretty strict about was not being more than 5 minutes late to class. I once saw her refuse someone from joining the class because they were 6 minutes late. But overall, she's a really chill person and really friendly. We usually get split into smaller groups and do rotations around different stations in the gym. Most classes start off with a cardio warmup on the treadmills or the stationary bikes. Mel goes over all types of exercises, and I think this is a pretty good class to take if you're more beginner/intermediate level in the gym.

I liked Mel's PE class because she really does take the time to teach you how all the gym equipment works, which is really great if you are a beginner. However, I do think that this class might be a bit boring if you are more used to going to the gym. She basically teaches you how each machine in the gym works for like two class sessions. When I had her, she didn't really let us use our phones or listen to music of our own for a bit but she got more lax with that towards the end, and I heard from people who took her class the semester after that she lets people use their phones and listen to music now.