Course kick-off day offered an opportunity for students to explore new classes in three 15-minute intervals, running through Learn and sparking debate among students about whether it was worth it.
Originally, the event was known as the electivse fair, but eventually the administration decided to allow students to explore not only electives, but core classes as well, and renamed the day.
“The purpose of that was to give students the opportunity go and visit different electives to make good decisions when they were doing their course selection,” director of Student Services Cindy Blakeley said. “Over time we didn’t want students to just explore electives; we really wanted a student to explore IB English, HL or SL, for instance, or a math class.”
Blakeley also said that the day is extra helpful for students exploring academy courses that Marshall doesn’t offer.
Freshman Emily Carson attended the IB Spanish, culinary arts and computer graphics sessions, and she stressed the importance of the event.
“I think it’s really important because sometimes if you’re signing up for a course and if you don’t know what goes on, it can really give you a bad year,” Carson said. “You want to do what you like, so make sure you know what you’re signing up for.”
Sophomore Archana Nakkara attended the IB Environmental Systems, IB Biology SL 1 and IB Economics SL 1 sessions.
“They provided a lot of information and stuff to us,” Nakkara said, “and they talked about how the courses are going to run, like what units we’re learning.”
The debate among over-scheduled, busy teenagers is whether or not the day is worth the time spent running from course to course because it takes place during Learn, a valuable part of a student’s day.
Carson explained how important the Learn period was.
“I think it would have been nice if they had left us Learn, because there was work a bunch of people had to do,” Carson said, “and if they could set aside some parts of maybe the end of the day or the beginning of the day instead of classes we go to, then of course, it would be easier.”
Junior Robert Leap attended the geosystems and orchestra sessions. He believes that for some, the day isn’t even necessary, like graduating seniors who don’t need to begin searching for future high school courses.
“If you’re looking for a new class, then yes [it’s necessary], but no if you’re a senior or you already know what you’re doing,” Leap said.
In Nakkara’s opinion, the 15-minute block of time was not enough to get a good feel for what the class is like.
“I think it should be just a little bit longer because I know some people had a lot of questions in their minds that they weren’t able to ask,” Nakkara said. “Also, some of the teachers were kind of rushing.”
Blakeley explained that the scheduling for the day was an extremely delicate balance.
“We have to meet the needs of all and there’s always a risk of giving too much time, and therefore there’s a waste of time,” Blakeley said. “I certainly don’t want to do that. I don’t want to take students’ time, I don’t want to take teachers’ time and I don’t want to take away from [students’] courses right now.”
Occasionally, students will follow a friend to a session because they have already been to the classes they need to or that interest them.
“I went to IB Economics because my other friends were going,” Nakkara said.
To that, Blakeley says there isn’t much she can do, but that maybe they will discover a new interest.
“That’s not what I want people to do, but I am open to karma!” Blakeley said.