As finals week comes up, we only have one more day of first semester before second semester comes upon us. The beginning of January is typically when students start anticipating the new semester, and they look at their second semester schedules. This year, schedule changes are happening a bit differently than normal. Some students agree with the new way it’s happening, others do not.

Schedule changes can now only be made if you want to change an elective, not a core class. If you wanted to switch out of your math or English class, you now cannot do that. However, if your PE or cooking class doesn’t fit your schedule, or you need a different period, you are able to do that. The reason: to eliminate hours of work for the hardworking counselors at our school.

“I’m sort of annoyed that I can’t switch out of my chemistry class now. I don’t need it to graduate, so I was hoping I would be able to switch out of that class. I definitely understand how hardworking the counselors are, though. They help 400 students each, and they can’t cater to everyone’s individual needs,” Cheyenne Stultz said.

Junior Hannah Clymer shared her opinion on the topic.

“Personally, it doesn’t really affect me because I don’t know why someone would want to switch out of their core classes like math or science halfway through the school year. Usually, people take those classes for a whole year so they can get credit for it. I think that the new rule of schedule changes only affects a handful of people, because most people just change their electives anyway,” Clymer said.