Two years after the new finals attendance policy was implemented, students are still wondering what privileges they have during finals week and what they can do to blow off steam, focus on studying or just hang out with friends during finals week.
Assistant Principal of Student Life Stacy Tepp walked through the new finals attendance policies.
The policy is the same as last year: “11th and 12th graders have senior privileges as usual. So if they don’t have a class, they can leave campus with their badges,” Tepp said.
The ninth and tenth graders have less privilege: “Ninth and tenth graders would walk to places far [away] and parents didn’t know. We didn’t know where students were and that’s a recipe for disaster,” Tepp said.
Regardless of the privilege that juniors and seniors have, all students are expected to be present, “Everybody [is] expected to stay at school, even if you don’t have a written exam,” Tepp said.
Senior Bokii Mullataa, in his last week of finals, intends to use his time as best as he can. “I go back to school to get more work done, meet with teachers and use the time smartly and the best that I can,” Mullataa said.
Mullataa said he understands why younger students have more structure: “The [ninth-graders] and sophomores won’t like [the policy] too much, but I especially needed it my sophomore year being more unstructured and not as focused as I am,” Mullataa said.
Sophomore Nils Lajuzan understands the importance of the current finals policy. “I do think it’s good for [ninth-graders] and sophomores that haven’t really had the full experience of finals week to have a more structured time to do their work,” Lajuzan said.
In Mullataa’s view, the policy is effective as it is and will benefit younger students long-term. “[The ninth-graders and sophomores] will see in the future that it’s a time to build responsibility and accountability for themselves and they’ll learn how to use that time,” Mullataa said.
If Lajuzan could leave campus, he would use the freedom to take breaks: “I would go get food with my friends,” Lajuzan said.
To support students during finals week, Tepp said the administration plans to support the students’ freedom by holding various events open to the school: “I know that teachers are going to hold office hours, … We’re having s’mores every day, we’re going to have open gym every day for at least an hour. Ms. Irish is running a craft space, … our counselors might have some chill spaces,” Tepp said.
Lajuzan hopes to be as productive as he can during finals week: “I’m probably going to meet with friends and go to a study room for exams we have later in the day. … I’ll be studying most of the time, hopefully being really prepared for the exams that I have,” Lajuzan said.
The finals attendance policy is one to keep track of. Lajuzan and Mullataa will head into finals week with the intention of using their time to the best advantage, while also having the freedom they need.
