The Student Newspaper of Saint Peter's Prep

The Petroc

The Student Newspaper of Saint Peter's Prep

The Petroc

The Student Newspaper of Saint Peter's Prep

The Petroc

2012 Schedule: The New Days of Prep

2012+Schedule%3A+The+New+Days+of+Prep

This year Prep initiated a major change to the schedule layout, which affects the entire Prep community. The new schedule includes six fifty-minute periods, a fifty-minute community period, and an eight-day rotating schedule with two flex days after every two cycles.

Designed with the intent for more time to learn, the fifty-minute periods have changed the average day at Prep. The intent of longer classes was to allow the students to better focus during class time. The belief was that if the class is forty-minutes, ten minutes are taken to begin to focus and twenty minutes are spent focusing on the material. However, towards the last ten minutes of class, students lose focus and stop paying attention. The intent of creating fifty-minute class periods elongates the amount of focused time for students so that they can get more out of the class. Prep students are still adjusting to these changes, but many can already see some important advantages.

When asked about the new schedule system, senior Dave Somers said, “Although [the fifty-minute classes] do sometimes become tedious, they help us achieve more each day, and prepare us to pay attention for the much longer classes that we will have to endure in college.”

On the other hand, some students do not agree with this philosophy. Senior James Kellner said, “I personally don’t think that the longer classes help me to focus. I think that students are more inclined to lose focus earlier, knowing that there are ten extra minutes of class.”

Of the changes implemented this year, the most prominent of them was the introduction of the fifty-minute community period. Replacing recess, the community period between 2nd and 3rd period serves many purposes. On A, C, D, F, and H days, the community period is reserved for academic support, on B and E days, it is used as an activity period, and G day is used for school gatherings.

The community period is the most unique aspect of student life that Prep has to offer. Academic support during school allows for a large amount of time for student to get extra help without missing trains or practice. Additionally, the community period provides time for students to do homework and to study for quizzes and tests.

The community period also provides for a host of clubs to become more active in the school. Clubs no longer have to worry about interference with sports to hold meetings since they can conduct them during this time.

“I think a lot of kids went into [the school year] thinking it was a bad idea,” said senior Sam Gentile, “but now that we’ve had it for a few weeks, I think most people would agree it has been a very good addition to our schedule.”

The one part of the community period that has been criticized by the student body has been the school gatherings.

Gentile continued, “The only thing I don’t like about [the community period] is the many assemblies we have.”

Clearly as the new schedule enters its first year, the Prep community will continually adjust to its parameters; however, one cannot deny the fact that the new schedule has caused a great deal of change in the average Prep day.