Starting the second semester each year, seniors are allowed to have a “reduced schedule”, or a schedule with five classes or less, as these students already have enough credit for graduation.
Senior Sammi Smith has reduced her schedule to three classes, including AP Statistics, AP Studio Art and a teacher aide. Smith said that with the free time during the day, she is able to focus more on work and college.
“Recently, I’ve been going to Starbucks every morning and then after it, since I get out before one, I usually go to work early,” Smith said.
However, with the reduced schedule, Smith said that she has less motivation throughout the semester.
“It just doesn’t feel like school, honestly. I’m here for two hours and I don’t really have a lot of tests or anything,” Smith said. “When I did this, I was hoping this would be easy …,but now I have no motivation.”
Similar to Smith, senior Mallory Oliver has three classes in her second semester schedule, and spends the rest of her day having time to herself.
“I usually hang out with friends, go to the gym or catch up on some sleep in my extra time that I didn’t have last semester,” Oliver said.
However, differing from Smith, Oliver said that having less motivation is worth the reduced schedule.
While reduced schedules offer more free time to prepare for college as well as a flexible schedule, the reduced scheduling also acts as a reward for second-semester seniors.
“What it is, is students who are in good standing, so they’ve been passing their classes, and they don’t need extra classes to graduate. They can have the option of having a reduced schedule,” counselor Marc Conover said. “And it’s done, partly as a reward for doing well in your first three and a half years of school.”
However, there are different requirements for students who participate in athletics and performing arts.
“What you should differentiate between is seniors who are in an [extra-curricular], who have to have a minimum of five classes to participate or be eligible,” Conover said.
Conover said many seniors drop classes that they only took to fill up their schedules. AP English Literature teacher Adam Smith said he always has a problem of seniors dropping his class.
“I’m hoping that I don’t have a seventh-hour section of that next year, because every year that I’ve taught, I’ll at least lose a few students for that very reason,” Smith said.
Conover said a reduced schedule gives students a sense of responsibility with time management throughout the day and a chance to prepare for college .
“It’s a way for a lot of students to do extra work senior year to try and start saving up for college,” Conover said.
