Students take free periods to help manage their workload

I have a friend who is taking three academic classes, and one independent study,” Senior Carlin Cherry said.

The intensity of a student’s schedule plays a large role in their high school experience. Some students take many free periods, while others take as many academic classes as possible.

Among those students who take relatively harder course loads is Cherry, who came to University Prep in her junior year and has enjoyed the school’s wide variety of course offerings.

“There are a lot of really cool classes that U Prep offers,” Cherry said. “I’ve never taken a free period.”

However, taking only academic electives without any free periods can be overwhelming.

Advisor and math teacher Sarah Peterson encourages students, especially juniors and seniors, to take at least one free each semester.

“I’m really kind of a free period stickler. If a student doesn’t choose a free period each semester they really need to convince me that it’s the right thing for them,” Peterson said.

Sometimes if she believes students are overburdening themselves, she will not sign off on their schedule request.

Cherry thinks that a schedule without a free period is manageable, as long as the student stays on task and isn’t overburdened outside of school.

“I guess it depends on whether you are a motivated student. I think you can do okay without a free period, but it might be different for people who do a lot of extracurricular stuff,” Cherry said.

Senior and PumaTalks founder Esa Tilija, agrees that free periods can help students find time for both school and extracurricular activities.

“I use my free if I’m doing club stuff. I can get my work done for PumaTalks and facilitators at school, instead of after school,” Tilija said.

In Tilija’s opinion it is important to take some free periods.

“I think it’s important to leave some time for free periods or creative classes, because in my experience, having only academic classes can be really stressful,” Tilija said.

“Also you sometimes just end up in a situation where you might not be able to put as much time as you want into all of them.”

Cherry has decided to take no free periods her senior year in part because the challenge will help prepare her for college.

“Because I’m still in high school everything is a bit lower pressure than when I’ll be in college,” Cherry said.

“I think that getting that introduction to the harder stuff while I’m still here is going to help me in college. And also getting slightly lower grades second semester senior year won’t affect me too much.”

For senior Sohrab Seera, free periods are important for being able to do well in school while still participating in extracurricular activities.

“Sometimes we will have late practices for basketball, or something will just come up, so it’s really nice to have a free period,” Seera, who is taking two free periods this semester, said.

For most students, taking at least one or two free periods is useful, but others prefer to take advantage of all of U Prep’s academic opportunities.

Ultimately the flexibility of U Prep’s schedule system allows students to adjust their workload to a suitable amount.

By: Jen Wen And Lindsay McConville