With COVID continuing to place restrictions on students’ daily experiences at BSM, administration has allowed seniors who have a free hour during the day to leave campus and do what they please, also allowing students with free hours during first and last period to arrive later and leave earlier.

With this new rule, some students are able to sleep in and arrive at 9:00 a.m., towards the end of first hour. There are also a handful of other students who have the last class period of the day free, and are able to leave after lunch. “I felt more rested and it made school a lot easier… I was able to get a good breakfast before going into school instead of grabbing something on the go. I was able to get a lot of my work done so I could have more open time for other things,” senior Ethan Tureson said.

For the students who have a free hour in the middle of the day, they are able to leave campus and get food or go home and take a nap as long as they come back for their other classes. “It was amazing… great stress relief. I was able to get all my work done and have a lot more free time after school,” senior Myles Wahlquist said. 

With many seniors having met the credit requirement, some have more than one free period. “Since I have more than one free hour I was able to stay caught up on my work and it essentially made school a lot easier and more enjoyable,” senior Sam Lillienthal said.

As BSM continues on with the second quarter they plan for this privilege to continue throughout the rest of the school year. With COVID adding a lot of stress to students’ lives, it was very gratifying to many of them who got to go home during the day and relax for a little before they had to return back. For many other students, they got to stay home and get some rest before they came in. “There has been no negative feedback so far,” Assistant Principal Matt Weingartz said.