With the new school schedule that came into effect at the beginning of the new school year, a lot of changes had to be made concerning scheduling and time-related issues throughout the school day. From shortened passing periods, to the shorter senior bell, club days inevitably had to have adjustments made to them as well.
Initially, when students learned that the change would be moving interest clubs, which previously met during seventh period, to before school, there were some concerns along with a lot of curiosity about how things like attendance would change. A lot of them found that while their club still had solid attendance, there was somewhat of a decline in people from previous years due to the meeting being before school.
“I feel like we were allowed to do about the same but it was definitely more difficult getting attendance from upperclassmen. Since a lot of them drive to school, so it’s harder to get their attendance. Since there are so many people that get to school like fifteen minutes before school starts even with a set time, traffic held a lot of people back,” said junior and Trap and Skeet Shooting Club President Ryan Ledbetter.
For many students, the bus is their main form of transportation to school. However, there have been issues with people not being able to attend club meetings because their buses get to school close to when the meeting is about to be over.
“Attending clubs before school is going to be rough because I honestly can barely make it to school in the mornings. I think it’s pretty negatively going to impact the club. I’d rather have meetings during class time, since meetings before school don’t account for bus riders,” said senior Mattie Mikel.
Although transportation and attendance are some legitimate downsides for students and club leaders, there are also some benefits to the new system. Students now have the potential to stop by multiple club rooms if necessary, and have more freedom over what they decide to do with their interest club period.
After the first club day, many students had some concerns about the success and attendance of the different interest clubs at Steinbrenner. Both club leaders and attendees will have to continue to adapt to the new schedule throughout the rest of the year, in order to insure that these potential setbacks are accommodated for.
Grace Becker // News Editor
