With the coming of the 2023-2024 school year, principal Rick Rivera made a few changes. One that students and staff talk about is the moving of seminar from 2:15-3:00 to 9:35-10:15.
“I’m honestly in the middle,” junior Stacia Pennycuff said. “I think that it has its benefits, but I know for myself, that the extra time in the morning makes me more likely to put off my work.”
While the change makes Pennycuff more likely to put off assignments, math teacher A.J Bodyk sees the opposite in his classroom.
“Typically, by the end of the day, students are much more tired than they are at the start,” Bodyk said. “What I’m noticing is that students are more alert, awake and productive. It also allows students to not stress so much about homework outside of school because they know they have the 40 minutes in the morning to catch up on anything they missed.”
Rivera decided to move seminar by using conversations between nearby schools to compare effectiveness with time.
“We had conversations with the building leadership team with schools similar to us to see when their ACE was, and the effectiveness of it,” principal Rick Rivera said. “Upon looking at the reasons brought to the table, we decided to schedule our ACE for learning and not convenience.”
Procrastination is not the only concern Pennycuff had however.
“I really don’t like that sports have to miss so much class,” Pennycuff said. “A lot of times, they miss all of fourth block and even some of third block, and I feel like it takes from their education.”
Rivera thought of this too, but did not think of it as a large issue.
“The reality is that not as many students leave for sports as some kids think,” Rivera said. “It’s really negligible, and sports are an extracurricular. If a student doesn’t like to leave early and miss their education, they don’t have to play the sport.”
Upon looking at the reasons brought to the table, we decided to schedule our ACE for learning and not convenience.”
— Rick Rivera
