“Glory Be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.” Students at Rockhurst High School know this prayer far too well. The “Glory Be” signals the end of another school day. From 8:00 am to 3:00 pm, 1,000 teenage boys are cooped up inside the walls of Rockhurst. Yet, as Mr. Darby’s voice fades from the intercom each afternoon, they reach freedom. Students rush out of the many different exits around the building, running to their cars in hopes of beating the afternoon parking lot traffic. They are ready to unwind, just relax a little bit. However, many students at Rockhurst experience the opposite of that. Home is not a place for relaxation and downtime; …show more content…
After a long day of school, listening to teachers go on and on about an “important subject”, I just want to be able to relax, hang out with some friends, or spend some time in my hammock. Yet, I open up the myHomework app on my iPad, only to find that night’s homework on display for me. I cry a little inside, take a deep breath, and get to work. Rockhurst High School. Fun. Enjoyable. Awesome. Sports. Spiritual. Brotherhood. Challenging. Stressful. Reflective. Satisfying. Loving. My favorite place. These adjectives are the first words that come to mind when I think of Rockhurst High School. As a junior, I have had plenty of time to know and love the school. When I was in grade school, I was skeptical that RHS would be the right fit for me. However, I wanted to be challenged in high school. I did not want to fly through it, and Rockhurst has given me that challenge. It has challenged me academically, spiritually, and emotionally. Yet, is it too much of a challenge? Does Rockhurst expect too much from its students, primarily academically? …show more content…
However, active learning goes past the 3:00 bell. Not only are students exhausted and tired after a long day, they do not want to have to worry about hours of homework at home. There is no arguing that Rockhurst is academically rigorous.. Yet, there is a difference between being rigorous and being overbearing. There is a serious workload problem at Rockhurst. RHS administration wants its students to be active outside the classroom, involved in co-curriculars, complete service in the community, work at a job, and have a social life. On top of all of that, students have to worry about homework. It is simply too much to handle sometimes. In a recent RHS survey, Frank Schroer, junior, surveyed 33 Rockhurst students. Out of those 33 students, 39.3% said that they spend three or more hours on homework a night. And 81.8% of students surveyed responded that they participate in different activities outside of school. One student explains why he struggles to complete his homework by saying, “I have rehearsals after school, for choir, musicals, etc., that can take up anywhere from two to five hours (or more, if they overlap) of my time after school. This just doesn't leave much time for doing homework at home.” With outside activities, it is becoming harder and harder for students to keep up with the rigorous workload. Personally, I
These expectations are set in hopes that they will help students get into prestigious colleges. An NPR report featured teenagers Tom Poulis and Chelsea Halprin, who shared their thoughts on stress related to high school schedules. Poulis says, “the stress level is very high” due to taking four AP classes, standardized tests, and participating in various after school activities to enhance his college applications. Halprin hoped to attend an Ivy League school. Her schedule included time for homework, class president duties, team sports, mentoring young students, and helping at her synagogue. Despite her impressive schedule, Halprin worried that it would not be enough to meet her goals. The idea that students must overwork themselves and excel in every area has become an emotional and mental burden on teenagers, rather than be a guide to a successful
The months went by in a blink of an eye, and it was the last week of school. My classes for the rest of the week, we're watching a movie and eating pizza ,but only people who had a good
My eyes repeatedly peered to the stands which had a crowd of at least four hundred students eagerly waiting as we were warming up. Observing the crowd I noticed the left side of the field was full of students in orange Parkview High School shirts while to my right students were in purple Brookwood High School shirts. It was the Lacrosse Region Championships between Parkview, the school I played for, and, Brookwood High School. Both of our schools were ranked top ten for biggest rivalries, we knew it would be a fight to win the most significant game for us.
Vividly, I can remember walking through the high school doors for the first time as a freshman with shaky legs and a nervous heartbeat. The school was a jungle of wide, shiny hallways filled with lumbering seniors who I thought were going to knock my books down on Freshman Friday. However, time has passed, and now I find myself to be the tall and “scary” senior. As I ponder about the last four years I have spent at Little Falls Community High School, I can not help but realize how much I have changed for the better. As I have matured, I have gleaned that beauty does not come through makeup and clothing brands, but rather through processing a good heart. Also, I have changed my career and college plans after high school, and I know that I will
As future alumni, of Emmerich Manual High School, going on the fourth year here, I have an abundance, and variety of memories. Undoubtedly, the incomparable memory I have, was the day I realized I had found the diamond in the rocks. In the course of my sophomore year, one of my teachers motivated me by saying; “You’re selling yourself short, and turning in hogwash to get by.” The following day these words were regurgitated over and over in my head. While enduring this repetitive selection of words, I registered everyone I was surrounded by were also being navigated by almost the same words. Subsequently we all joined in on a healthy academic competition. We hustled each other, and continue to do so; my friends became my ‘saving grace’ this day. Regardless of this experience, Manual was not always a great place to go to school. Essentially Manual could have been considered a zoo by anyone who read, Matthew Tully’s 2012 book, Searching for Hope. Tully’s book details a school that contained students with academic apathy, violent action, and crippling attendance. These students demolished many opportunities that Manual yearned to present to the students. While Manual today resembles Tully’s Manual in the way some students maintain the prior students’ characteristics,
HIgh school has always been easy for me, and probably for the majority of people that have been through the school system in America. 20 years ago there wasn’t a such thing as a program like northland CAPS for high schoolers. Also 20 years ago you didn’t need a college degree to pursue most careers. For me I’ve always been a procrastinator, even the application I submitted to northland caps was late. I’ve always been comfortable talking in front of large crowds and I’ve always been comfortable with myself. However, I was tired of the traditional classroom as well. The repetivness of being in highschool learning the same material has the juniors did before you. I wanted to try something different my junior year, and I knew that there wouldn’t be very many juniors in this program making it a bigger challenge for me.
When I entered Glenbrook South High School for my first day of freshman year, I was not excited to be back in school and I was definitely not ready to learn again. I remember the first class I had was English. As I sat in English, I recognized some people from middle school, but most of the faces were new to me. The teacher, I forgot her name, was very nice and welcoming. She asked us to pull out our “Of Mice And Men” books and asked someone to read the first page out loud. One of the students began to read out loud, and I followed along. After the first page was completed, she asked for a volunteer to summarize the page. No one volunteered so she picked from the attendance sheet. She picked me. I got nervous because I had no clue what was
Being a student at Washington Community High School, I put forth my best effort to involve myself in academics, athletics, school clubs, and volunteer work. During my freshman year of high school, I committed myself towards music to a great extent. I performed in the marching band, the Jefferson and Wilmor Contemporary Music Project bands, the Symphonic Winds top concert band, and the pep band. In addition to music, I competed in several athletic activities, including cross country and track. Furthermore, I participated in a considerable amount of school-sponsored clubs such as the Student Council, the Freshman Executive Board, the Washington Leadership and Community Service Club, the Spanish Club, and the Mathletes Team. Throughout my
How did I get in this position, freezing cold in a cemetery soaking wet in the rain digging up a coffin?Well, let’s start at the beginning.”OK Students here we are,the Greensberg cemetery!”Please be dutiful!”Miss Jennings said.You might be wondering why are the students of Greensberg Middle school in a cemetery?Well the mayor of Greens Berg just passed.Ah! Ever since Mayor Green has been gone all the people in town have been weeping their eyes out.Anyways,as soon as we got there we were given a tour of the place like we have never seen it before.When we got to the late Mayor’s grave, we stopped for a minute and then keep going.For some reason I stayed oh, did I mention he wasn’t even barred yet!CRAZY COOL RIGHT!I looked around to see
High school students feel more stress than working adults, and children are beginning to feel aversion towards learning. Both adolescents and children are at risk of health issues due to anxiety and less time is spent with family, playing, and sleeping. The cause for all of this is too much homework that is suffocating students. Homework causes students to sleep less, have more stress, and even forces students to give up extracurricular activities. These negative results can be improved by reducing the homework load.
Castle View High School, although some teachers,students,and parents say that homework is something that every student should do and should be a necessity, there should actually be less homework for students so their brains don’t get hot wired. The first reason is that students tend to improve if they spend at least 2-3 hours of doing homework. Students don’t want to spend 2-3 hours of homework after a long day of school, that can be exhausting to them and their brains. Doing homework very little, improves elementary and middle schoolers, homework mostly only helps improve high school students. Another reason is, teachers like students to continue working on the lessons that were taught, to be continued at home. We’ve decided ahead of time
Imagine if a kid stayed up all night studying for a test while they still have 2 papers of homework from a different class, and they also get home at 5:30 from their practice. They wouldn’t have much time to do things after school and not much time for all the homework.
While most other traditional high school students have four years of high school courses to prepare them for the road ahead whether that path may lead them to college or straight into a job, I decided that this was not the road I wanted to take. I decided that I wanted to skip a step so that I could make it into college more quickly while still acquiring an advanced diploma (four years of each core class are required as well as 3 years of a world language). I filled out the necessary paperwork and began taking extra classes. In my sophomore year of high school, I took US Government as an independent study class through a program called CDS (Center for Diversified studies). They gave me the work and I was expected to complete it without the
As soon as I closed my eyes, I instantly felt different. I was no longer wide awake, mind raring to learn and to go, go go. Silence automatically engulfed me allowing me to sink into my mind. My eyes instantly when shut felt heavy, and slightly burned as if through I had to keep my eyes open for sixty seconds, rather than closed. No smells hit me as the classroom was scent free , and I was sitting next to girl who probably more then likely showered everyday. So she gave off no scent. My ears quickly caught the steady hum of the overhead lights. Not focusing to deeply as my ears inadvertently bounced around looking in the silence for something else to hear. I could hear people walking through the halls, a fellow classmate entering the room.
When we arrived at Douthitt High School as freshmen, the buildings in our school showed the signs of their 40 years of age. It might be hard to think back to that time when there was a landscaped yard in front of the cafeteria instead of a concrete courtyard, and when the grassy knoll our students enjoy on a rare sunny day didn't exist. After a few noisy years of construction, we now have a modern school. In our time here, it has gone through a complete change from old and mature, to fresh and new. We, on the other hand, have gone from being fresh and new high school students, to old, experienced, mature young adults ready to graduate.