Homeroom is a crucial part of many students’ days because it is a time to regroup, get a snack, or quickly cram for the test you have the next hour. In these short 25 minutes, many students mainly focus on studying for a test or getting a small bite to eat before the rest of the day. However, being a junior and having my homeroom in the back of the North Building, I am most focused on getting to homeroom on time and avoiding a tardy along with my peers who are in the same situation.
This is my second year now being in the band room for homeroom and as a sophomore, it was not the worst-case scenario. Now, being a junior, it is frustrating and also feels somewhat unfair. After freshman year, our homerooms changed rooms, students, and teachers. It was very irritating to go from being in a very convenient part of the school to the furthest place away from my classes. After finding out that going forward, homerooms would remain unchanged, it was aggravating knowing that a class of juniors would be sent to the back of the North Building once again.
First of all, I am not in the band, so why are my classmates and I placed in the band room as our homeroom? Second of all, there are many junior high and freshman classes in the North Building, so why not put either of those two grades closer to classrooms they could be in the next hour? In the North Building, there is also another homeroom of juniors, which is Alisa May’s homeroom. As a junior, none of us have May as a teacher, as she only teaches freshman classes, so why not put freshmen in her homeroom?
Junior year, which is often considered to be the most challenging year of high school, causes an extreme amount of stress. Homeroom should be a stress-free zone where students can do work or simply reset before the rest of the day. For the juniors who have homerooms in the North Building, such as myself, the main focus is getting there on time, especially because once tardies add up it can result in a detention. It is understandable to give a tardy if you are five to ten minutes late, but if you are only one minute late a tardy should not be given. The class you are coming from also plays a key factor in how fast you can get to homeroom. For example, if your first or second period is art, you have to get from the basement to the North Building in five minutes. For me, I stop at my locker to get my materials for my next class. Five minutes may seem like plenty of time, but with the congestion of the hallways and making a stop at your locker, it feels as if it is 30 seconds.
If homerooms do not change again, senior homerooms should be moved to a different classroom that is more convenient. This would decrease the number of tardies from students in these homerooms and ease the stress on students that is already at an all-time high.