As a senior in High school, Little Cyclone time, formerly known as seminar, has been a huge part of my school day. Although boring, it’s a calm 35 minutes 35 minutes after lunch for underclassmen and juniors. But some people have mixed opinions. 

On one hand, little cyclone time is a great break during the day. It allows kids to retake tests, get extra help on assignments, and was formerly a time when clubs could meet freely. This was a great, multipurpose 35 minutes that allowed for flexible time for students to come to teachers with questions and get much-needed help when it was necessary. While not always necessary for many students, it was nice to know that that time was there and available to use. Similarly, it was a great time for clubs to connect and meet together. Many students can’t join clubs due to previously committed sports, and being able to use that time during the day for clubs allowed more kids to join and participate in them.

However, now that you have to sign up for flexisched and plan out who you are going to each week, making up tests and getting extra help seems almost more difficult. Now, students are required to sign up at the beginning of the week for a specific teacher, which, in theory, is helpful. However, if you decide you need help with something in the middle of the week, it is now harder to get to that teacher. Adding on, club time is now reduced to once every other week. This makes it very hard for lots of kids to do clubs or participate in clubs they may be passionate about, plus a club that meets every other week may find it hard to get things done in a club.

Little cyclone time is beneficial to students who need help on tests or extra homework time. But perhaps it isn’t beneficial every day. I propose making little cyclone time only 2 days a week, or making it not required. Although this may pose problems for underclassmen who don’t have anywhere else to go. Another solution would be to open up a little cyclone time to clubs again. There is no time for students to meet anymore, and Little Cyclone time could be perfect for that. Right now, it’s honestly just wasted time, and there are many better ways that we could be making that time more valuable to students. The reality is that the majority of students do not need as much help as the school thinks, but it could still be left available to some. I also think it’s not a great idea to have people sign up for it. It’s really hard to know at the start of the week what class you might need help with or what things you might have to make up. Having to sign up just limits the ability to get help, but little cyclone time was made this way this year for that purpose.

One thing is for sure: little cyclone time could definitely be beneficial for students, and it seems unbeneficial to take that time away. It can be a time used for clubs, catching up on homework, or a nice break after lunch. Although it is at times frustrating to attend, taking it away permanently is taking away a time that could have plenty of miscellaneous uses and while I am not fully in favor of seminar time, the thought of not having it seems like somehow wasting time even more.