After the Catholic Schools Week Mass on January 28th, President Dr. Kevin Gyolai and Assistant Principal Mrs. Mary Andersen met with the Senior class to inform them of their new privileges as second semester seniors. The privileges went into effect immediately after the meeting ended, and the main privileges given were the ability to use your ID as a hall pass, the ability to leave school early if you have free hour 8th period, and Skip-a-final. “There’s something about a partnership or a relationship where you rely on your seniors to be the big leaders of the school and setting the tone for the school, making sure homecoming goes well, that kind of thing. There’s a lot of responsibility on seniors and so, in part, it’s an acknowledgement of ‘We rely on you and want to reward you,’” Andersen said.

At the meeting, Gyolai and Andersen stressed the need for the second semester seniors to stay motivated and finish strong. They reminded seniors that they are still going to the same school with the same people and the same rules, and that they can’t forget that. “Don’t graduate too soon. We say that every year,” Andersen said.

One incentive that works in BSM’s favor is the Skip-a-final program. If Seniors meet the requirements, they could possibly skip all of their Final Exams of the second semester. To skip a final for a class seniors must be passing a class with a C or higher, have no disciplinary referrals, and have no more than 3 tardies (9 tardies for 1st period). Seniors cannot have absences due to a skip, kick-out, or in-school suspension, and seniors with 4 absences to any class may be excluded from the skip-a-final privilege. “The skip a final is incentive for seniors to stay plugged in to the end of the year. We get calls from all over the country about our Skip-a-final privilege because our seniors are way more plugged in than your average school,” Andersen said.

If abused, these privileges can be taken away from the Senior class. However, if the seniors handle their privileges well and are generally well behaved by the time Spring comes, seniors may have the possibility to go outside during their free time throughout the day. This privilege has to be earned and it may or may not go into effect depending on the senior class’ actions.