What do George Washington Students think about this year's bell schedule?

By:Miriam Moreno

There has been a lot of discussion between students at George Washington High School over the new bell schedule being implemented this year. The new bell schedule has students questioning if this change will bring new opportunities or add additional stress to their already busy schedules.

George Washington decided to change the bell schedule for the 2024-2025 school year. One of the biggest and most talked about changes is the new seventh period that has been added to students' schedules. Before the school year started, many students had some concerns about how the new schedule will affect them, but with it already being one month into the school year a lot of students are ready to express their thoughts on the schedule.

Many students at George Washington expressed their thoughts on the new bell schedule. One of the main benefits from the added seventh period is the opportunity for students to take more electives, AP classes and even have some free periods. Some of the complaints junior and senior students have been having was not having this opportunity during their sophomore year. Although having an extra class is very beneficial, the extra class has caused there to be fewer breaks in the schedule, as well as giving students the added stress of keeping up with an extra class. 

Geizel Tejada is a tenth grade student at George Washington and has expressed her thoughts on the new bell schedule. “Yes, it's very beneficial, but I only wish that passing periods were longer,” said Tejada. Other students like Katherine Joe who is also in tenth grade have shown her concerns with the new bell schedule saying, “I would have benefited more as a sophomore,” referring to the fact that sophomore students can now take AP classes whereas last year's sophomores couldn't. Dimitra Evetts is another tenth grade student and when asked about her opinion on the topic she said, “there are a lot of pros and cons, but having an extra period can give you a higher chance of getting a free period.”

The new bell schedule has given students many more opportunities to take the classes they want as well as more AP Classes but feel that passing periods should be longer. Even with some of the complaints, many students have said that the change has affected them more positively than negatively. Some future suggestions made by the students for the new bell schedule would be to have longer lunches or longer passing periods.