A half-naked man, a woman wearing a bikini over her jeans and T-shirt and a 4-foot by 2-foot beach-ball each bounced around Room 236 Coates on Wednesday.
The room, which is home to an “Introduction to Modern Physics” class three times a week, looked more like a beach than a physics 2203 class.
Wednesday was “pool party day” for these future physicists.
The playful atmosphere made the class seem like a real pool party – only without the pool – at 10:30 a.m.
Students laughed, ran around the room and posed for photos.
Each week this class has a theme day. Previous themes have included “funny hat day,” “retro-hippie day,” “barefoot day” and “Hawaiian day.”
Ray Clement, the self-appointed class president, said he and the others are not run-of-the-mill physics students.
“A lot of [physics] people are laid back,” he said. “But we are a fun physics class.”
Clement, a secondary education junior with a physics concentration, was the half-naked man Wednesday.
Wearing a white stripe of sunscreen on his nose, flip-flops, shades on his head and knee-length board shorts, Clement looked fit for a hot summer day. But Wednesday was windy and chilly.
James Rodi, whom Clement appointed vice president, said his president was “gutsy” for opting not to wear a shirt on a cold day.
“I mean, he’s just sitting in class with no shirt on,” Rodi said. “I thought about it but didn’t do it.”
Rodi, a physics sophomore, wore a white T-shirt with swim trunks and a towel wrapped around the lower half of his body. To add to his swimming effect, Rodi carried a noodle – a 5-foot long floating toy.
Clement walked shirtless up and down the hallway near room 236 before class started. He said he received “a few funny looks” and giggles from passersby.
“I didn’t care,” he said.
Wednesday afternoon Clement was dressed in what he called more traditional physics garb. He wore a green sports coat over a yellow T-shirt.
Clement said he wants to sport this kind of look when he is a physics teacher.
“When I teach I’m going to purposely wear that kind of stuff,” he said.
Modern physics theme days are a fun break in the hum-drum class schedule for Clement. He said he hopes his classmates can find solace in thinking about each week’s theme.
“School can get pretty monotonous,” he said. “But you can think, ‘I wonder what so-and-so’s wearing to the pool party.'”
Clement said the idea for theme days started when Rodi wore a trucker hat to class.
“One of the girls in class gave [Rodi] a lot of beef about a funny hat,” Clement said. “So I said, ‘We all should wear funny hats.'”
After the first week Clement took letters to class informing the others about the next week’s theme. He said he appointed himself president because he was doing all the organizational work.
“I appointed myself president on barefoot day,” he said. “I wrote a letter about what we were doing and signed it ‘Mr. President.'”
But every student in the class did not wear swimming garb to the pool party Wednesday.
Aimee Verrette, a physics junior, was in “everyday” clothes – jeans and a blouse. She said she doesn’t usually dress up for theme days
“I plan to dress up when it’s not so busy,” she said.
Verrette said she enjoys being in the class even though she doesn’t often participate.
“I’m looking forward to being in a class with this group again,” she said.
Bill Metcalf, the class professor, tolerates his students’ antics.
“As long as it doesn’t get in the way of class, I have no problem with it,” he said.
Since students seem to have so much fun together, Metcalf said he hopes the fun will enhance their academic lives.
“Maybe they will get together and study,” he said.
Metcalf formerly lived in Southern California. He said seeing Clement in class Wednesday reminded him of beach-combers he used to see a lot.
“I looked out there and saw a guy with zinc oxide on his nose and wearing baggy shorts,” he said. “I flashed back to Huntington Beach.”