Now that students are settling into their second-semester classes, a significant change is already on the horizon for the Winston-Salem school district: the calendar.
The Board of Education voted to push the start date to Aug. 12 next school year and end on May 20. Despite losing two weeks from the summer break, students see some positives.
When asked if they were looking forward to the calendar change, “Kind of in two ways, one way yes and one way no, I like that it helps me graduate earlier; I don’t have to come back after winter break to finish the semester, I can just finish at the end of December and leave.” junior Reese Gardner said.
This calendar will also adjust the midterm schedule. Instead of having midterms at the end of January, they will be held before winter break. Without the extra weeks of studying from the break, preparing for midterms might be a drastic change, especially for students taking AP classes. sophomore Abigail Munster plans to change her study habits for extra AP classes she will take next year: “I’ll study more, 45 minutes per class, which ends up being three hours, and I’d stay with one hour on weekends because of how many AP classes I’m taking.”
With the adjustments in the calendar, teachers also have to take into consideration the classwork and curriculum. “I think with the calendar change, the classes will be slightly less hectic, and the AP students will have more time to study for their tests,” Chemistry teacher Karl Koeval said. “With the way the calendar works, the students come back in January disengaged, and it doesn’t help that January is the month that gets the most snow days, and we have to review everything before exams,”
Despite some setbacks, students have a history of adjusting to significant changes and look forward to next year.