With homework, studying, and extracurriculars piling up for most students, a free hour would be the ideal element in a hectic schedule. Unfortunately for most students, especially those who wish to gain as many class credits as possible in their high school career, the highly coveted free hour is not always a possibility. But this year, with the addition of the BSM hour, busy students have the chance to concentrate solely on homework and studying for forty minutes a day. This change is one of the best we’ve seen at BSM in years.

We’d like to take this opportunity to personally thank our school administration for the BSM hour, as well as allowing us to actively engage in wellness activities once a week.

During each BSM hour, the library bustles with students productively working on homework with a more studious attitude than during free hours of previous years. Maybe kids just recognize this part of their day as designated focusing time, but they seem to utilize the BSM hour very effectively.

Though the math and writing resource centers in the library existed previously, many more students take advantage of the opportunity now that they spend their BSM hour in the library. Having teachers available for extra help, as well as the extra time provided by the BSM hour, schoolwork and difficult lessons become more manageable.

Wellness activities heighten the benefits of stress relief, teaching students about calming and healthy habits. These opportunities enable students to try hobbies they’d never consider, such as cooking or knitting, ultimately expanding student’s interest palette.

Though we believe wellness is a helpful addition to the schedule, there are a few frustrations that students are experiencing. First, the wellness day sometimes falls that one day of the week that is desperately needed for a study session—this makes wellness activities difficult to enjoy or focus on when the time could be better spent productively studying or seeking help from a teacher.

This isn’t to say that wellness isn’t a productive use of time. However, most students would like the option to choose which day of the week to utilize either wellness or free hour, based on their daily workload.

Secondly, the structure and regulation of wellness activity seems to go against the original idea. Since there are so many rules of supervision regarding the activities, it turns off students who wish to freely experience wellness whenever they choose. If choosing wellness days were an option, some students may even choose to attend wellness activities every day.

Lastly, some students wish to have the option to take an art class as their wellness activity. Because electives are often the first class to get cut from jam-packed schedules, art wellness classes would give busy students a chance to experience art without forfeiting another academic class.

Obviously there are kinks to work out with the addition of the BSM hour, but since its implementation a quarter ago, students look forward to the benefits of this daily stress reliever, viewing it as a positive addition by administration to the BSM policy.