Samir Patankar
staff writer

School can stress students out between homework and quizzes. To give us some extra time, a study hall period was instituted by the Wellness Committee. The study hall period lasts 30 minutes and alternates which period it occurs every week. Students can get help from the teacher they have in their study period or students can get help from teachers in different classes with a pass being given to the student by the teacher before the study hall period starts. Teachers are not obligated to say yes to a student asking for help. The study hall period is as much for teachers as it is for students. Teachers can work and grade assignments during this time to prepare for class.

This study period is essential for students with multiple quizzes on the same day. Many students cannot handle taking multiple assessments within a short period of time back-to-back. This study period can be used for students like junior Arden Matikyan who need this time to either relax or study. “This study period is the best. If I am ever stressed out with too many quizzes, I can study for some during this period. I can also just rest my head or listen to some music to calm me if I am tired,” Matikyan said.

Students are worried that certain teachers will take advantage of this time by teaching through it like they do with morning announcements. Some teachers teach past 8:30 a.m. up until 8:40 a.m. instead of letting the students watch the morning announcements. Junior Alex Yeh said, “So many teachers teach into the morning announcements which will probably happen for this study hall period. Teachers will use this time to teach students instead of what it is supposed to be used for.”

Some teachers feel that this study hall period is a waste of time. They believe that students will just socialize and use their phones. Others believe that this study period disrupts lab and test times. Double period teachers point out that a wellness period in the middle may disrupt labs or tests that span the two periods. Students also feel that this may be a waste of time.“I wish we just cut out this period so we can just keep learning. Not being able to leave the class to see teachers without passes makes no sense,” junior Simon Hunyh said.

Law teacher Alex Parker, is on the Wellness Committee and does not agree with all of these points. He says that he does not believe that it harms instructional time and wellness because “it is just three minutes of a difference. It only takes a minor amount of adjustments to accomplish assessments and instructional goals in this time.”