Senior year is known for being the most exciting year of your highschool career, and this year RMHS decided to add to the fun. As many students and faculty know, the class of 2016 is the first senior class to be granted senior privileges. If the seniors have a study A block they can come in late unexcused. If they have a study G block they get to go home early, however if they use this extra given time outside of school poorly, or if they leave too soon or come in too late too many times the opportunity is revoked. Of course, this benefit makes the year of college prep stress and fear for the future much simpler and more enjoyable for the seniors, but sadly not every member of the class has the pleasure of knowing such a luxury.
Students from all grades are excited about this new idea, since someday it’ll hopefully be them getting to sleep in on a weekday or going home to relax before after school activities. Freshman Joey Pavao stated that, “As someone who plays sports after school,I know that the extra hour in the morning or afternoon would make balancing sports with school work a lot less stressful.” For people who don’t play sports within the school, such as Hayley Higgins, a current sophomore, the extra time will also be utilized to its full extent. Higgins said that, “Highschool is about more than just grades and sports, it’s about making memories and relationships so I think that having the extra time outside of school to enjoy yourself is great especially for your last year of high school.” Vice principal to the sophomores and seniors thinks that senior privileges are a good incentive to prepare for college, the workforce, the military or any other path the seniors may follow after graduation, since it is a good source of extra freedom for them to prepare themselves for the journey to come. However, she feels strongly that is is a privilege not a right, and it can be taken away if need be. Upon being asked how he would feel if he were to lose his A block study, Liam O’Neill, a current senior said, “We’re given three strikes, and if you continue to misuse the privilege even after the first strike you probably deserve to have it taken away from you.”
Since it’s only the first year of senior privileges, there are of course still some kinks in the system, and the most apparent is of course, the matter of unfairness. Current Junior, Siobhan Dowcett stated that, “Though it’s a great idea, it’s unfair for some students to have the privileges and other to not simply by chance.” Many other members of the student body agree with this statement, because there is no publicly known system for deciding who does and does not get to take part in the privileges. However, even the seniors who don’t get the privileges, such as Nathaniel Lemons, agree that, “It’s a good idea, it’d be great if I did have them, but it isn’t the end of the world.”
Though for years kids have been getting dismissed during their G block study, or come in late during their A block study, there is finally a chance for seniors to do so without chance of chastisement. As current sophomore Alec Gibbs said, “The seniors have been here the longest, they deserve the break.”