Independent schools throughout the region promote physical activity as a crucial component of wellness. While sports are an important part of student life, they’re not the only avenue to healthful movement. Many local schools also encourage outdoor exploration and offer classes such as dance or strength-training that give students opportunities to learn new skills that might be with them their whole lives.
Teachers and administrators say this focus on movement provides an important balance to a screen-based culture that seems designed to lure students into hours of sedentary time on computers and phones. Exercise is important, they say, for physical and mental health, and also to promote learning.
“If I don’t get some exercise and move around, it’s hard for me to focus on tasks at home,” says John Polasko, president of the co-ed K-12 Gerstell Academy in Finksburg. “Our students are the same way. We encourage our students to get out and move around before they do their homework.”
Outdoor activity is built into the school day, he says. “Our lower and middle school students have opportunities to get out and move. We’ll sometimes see our lower school classes take a break from their studies and run around our quad for a few minutes. If weather permits, we want to be outside as often as we can.”
Being outdoors for nature study is central to the curriculum of Cambridge School, a K-8 Christian school in Baltimore. As its website notes: “By participating in nature study, students hone their skills for noticing, for being curious, for attending to the detail that God put into His Handiwork. Nature studies lay the groundwork for children to slow down and make room to listen to God’s voice.”
The school’s outdoor education coordinator, Ann Kumpf, has a background as a nature-based occupational therapist. She launched the outdoor education program at Cambridge in the after math of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re creating an active, interactive, multisensory way to bring our curriculum alive,” Kumpf says. “Once a week, each grade has time to be in the woods, which I facilitate. I partner with the teacher to figure out what we’re going to do. It’s an hour, usually. They’re outside other times of day too, but not necessarily in the woods.”
Movement becomes part of the lessons, she says. For example, in second grade, students learn about water ways by studying the creek on campus, and third graders partake in mock gladiator fights with sticks when they study ancient Rome.
“There are just so many studies that show that movement boosts learning,” she says.
“Sitting upright in a classroom isn’t going to give you that. They get to explore, get dirty, play in the creek. We usually have some kind of intentional activity and then time at the end where they’re free to do what they want. I think if you ask a lot of kids, it’s their favorite class.”
The school, for grades K-8, offers intramural sports including soccer, flag football and cross-country running for students in grades four and up.
Organized sports are important to many students, and develop skills such as discipline, teamwork and leadership through activity that also creates physical fitness. Local independent schools encourage athletes by offering a range of sports for many skill and experience levels.
At Gerstell, organized sports start in middle school, although many students have already played for years by then, learning the games in local leagues and programs.
“We encourage, but don’t require, that students compete on teams,” notes Polasko. “We see the athletic field as an extension of the classroom and our leadership model. We love to win, but that’s a secondary goal. The primary goal is being part of that team.”
In addition, physical education is required in every grade, with students in the upper school earning CPR certification as part of their curriculum. Yoga and strength-training classes are offered as electives, and the strength coach is also available to support faculty and staff, he says.
About half the students at Mercy High School, a Catholic prep school for young women, participate in organized sports, says Heather Mork, director of communications and marketing.
The school competes in the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland, with 12 different sports and teams for freshman, JV and varsity athletes. “We want to provide a classic high school sports experience with a professional feel,” she says.
Part of the experience is the school’s leadership in marketing its athletes and teams through social media accounts, “hype videos,” and media days. “Mercy has kind of paved the way for that in terms of girls’ schools in Baltimore,” says Mork.
The school prides itself on its Sisters of Mercy Athletic Complex, which opens in 2019 and includes a digital video scoreboard, lighting for night games, and a shock-absorbing layer under its turf fields.
The gym was refreshed in 2022, says Mork, adding scoreboards and a full locker room. “at Mercy, the girls are the main event,” she said. “We don’t have a boys’ soccer field with a separate set of lines for girls. These fields are designed for girls.”
The goal of its robust organized sports apparatus, says Mork, is to build a culture of leadership, teamwork and pride. “For all of our athletes, win or lose, the contest of your character is important. Both of those things are learning opportunities.”
A Mercy student, says Mork, “is proud of herself and her friends and her school. The girls support one another. Whatever event is happening, there are always friends there to cheer. We’re known for having a vibrant student section.”
This article is part of our 2025-2026 Guide to Baltimore Independent Schools.
