Hurrying through the door of H121, I quietly find my seat near the window. I take a minute to gather all of my belongings after rushing to make it to homeroom before the bell. Looking over, I see all of the football boys talking about the big game on Friday night, the soccer and volleyball girls dressed up for spirit days, and Ms. Squires looking around the room to see who is absent for the day.

The loudspeaker sounds and everyone immediately goes silent as they listen to announcements. Mrs. Tontodonato keeps us updated on sports and finishes with her famous word of the day. With a few minutes remaining, we finish our conversations and wait for the bell to ring, giving us the “go” that the day has finally started.

At least that’s what happened for my previous three years of high school.

Now, as the new school year has begun, I feel as though I am missing an important part of my day. When I come into school and head directly to first period, I feel like I am being rushed due to the loss of those five minutes I once had to collect my thoughts and prepare for school.

I enjoyed going to the same place every morning and having the opportunity to see familiar faces. It allowed me to cram in a couple extra minutes of studying better preparing me for that first period vocab quiz. Not only are we missing homeroom, but we also have lost the ten minute breaks on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

With these no longer being a part of the day, I lose the time to socialize with friends, go to my locker, and reorganize myself for the rest of the day.

It feels as if I’ve lost essential moments to simply relax and breathe among the constant frantic rush of the school day. Homeroom stayed the same for the past three years of my time at Algonquin. Entering my last year, I expected to begin my school days with the same people I did on the first day of freshman year.

While change can be good, eliminating both homeroom and recess breaks in an effort to meet the state’s 990 hours on the learning requirement has caused our days to feel rushed and a bit less personal.

I hope that the administration will look closely at the impacts of this change and consider if it truly is in the best interest of students and teachers.