This year at BSM, the freshmen were assigned rooms for their free period, and are calling it study hall. The school wants to get back to restricting areas. They have been pretty flexible due to COVID, but now are starting to reevaluate the freedom during BSM hour.

The freshman class have very different opinions on this change. Some find that it is useful and helps them get their work done, while others don’t like that they are confined to a room. “I think it’s annoying, and I think that we should be able to go wherever we want,” freshman Lily Schilling said.

Others don’t feel that it is that big of a deal for them. It seems for most freshmen it’s a matter of who is in their class. “I think it’s beneficial, and if you have a good class it’s not bad,” freshman Vivian Brandt said.

The freshmen also have different opinions on going out and walking around during their free time. Some want to have flexible seating and have access to all of the common areas. “I think we should be able to walk around. Some people might want to work in the theater and some people might want to work at desks, and now you don’t get to choose where you are,” Schilling said.

Others find that it might be too busy with the freshmen walking around with the volume of new students. Some find it beneficial because they have a quiet place, without distraction to do work. They also have an assigned location so it is easy to find a spot to get homework done. “Having a bunch of freshmen roaming the halls might be a little bit chaotic for people that are trying to get places,” freshman Nico Peterson said.

Assistant Principal Matt Weingartz had some input on this idea of a study hall. “BSM hours really changed because of the pandemic and different things that we started doing with COVID. So we wanted to kind of try and get back to things that we had done previously, pre pandemic…we used to have assigned locations,” Weingartz said.

With the volume of brand new students to BSM it also gives them a chance to meet new people. Freshmen also don’t have to think about where to go and they have a chance to get used to the new workload. “We typically have about 100 new students that are brand new to the school. So it gives them an opportunity to be able to get to know another adult in the building,” Weingartz said.