At some other schools, seniors are given the opportunity to job shadow, volunteer, and pursue some of their passions for the entire month of May. I think that this program would enhance the educations of the seniors of Benilde-St. Margaret’s and prepare us for life after graduation.

Job shadowing would be a wonderful opportunity for most students to see what a job could be like in their potential career field. Seniors would be allowed to go out into the community and explore their options not only for jobs, but for what impact they want to have on the world. They would receive a first-hand adventure in what their major could look like in their life, which can help students decide what degree they want to pursue when they go to college.

Service is important to many of our lives; Benilde-St. Margaret’s emphasizes service in almost all of the religion classes a student can take. A May term could provide us a way to serve while learning more about ourselves and our interests in careers. We could go out and serve our community in a unique way, which would provide us with opportunities to help find our interests, while also allowing us to live out this essential Catholic social teaching.

A May term would also provide seniors a way in which to develop communicative skills and independence. This is because we would have to set up our own job shadow sessions, coordinate volunteer opportunities, and be interviewed. We, the students, would call our potential company or agency and use our communication skills that we learned at Benilde-St. Margaret’s in order to create a schedule and get in our hours. More real-world practice in communication would definitely benefit seniors who are about to start attending college and applying for jobs.

Many know that once the month of May comes and goes, a good chunk of seniors lose interest in traditional-setting classes. Sitting at a desk and taking notes seems almost too tedious to deal with for many second semester seniors. A May term could potentially cushion the steepness of our senior slide and create opportunities for kids to stay engaged in a more in-depth way.