You sprint up the steps leading into the school building. You throw open the doors and are met with the confused face of a freshman trying to figure out the code. The freshman starts to enter random numbers, hoping that someone will be kind enough to notice and let them in. It is 7:59am. You are supposed to be in class in one minute, but instead you are stuck behind a clueless freshman who just got dropped off by their mom and is probably on their way to freshman seminar. You push past the freshman and type the code as fast as you can. The doors fly open as you sprint through the senior lounge and begin to jump up the stairs. You check your phone to check the time, and unfortunately, it is 8:01. You turn around and begin the walk of shame to Ms. Henken’s office. You join the long line of delinquents that extends out into the hall. Eventually it is your turn to go into Ms. Henken’s office and be scolded for being late. You think you hear Man vs Wild, or some other Netflix TV show being played, but you realize it’s just the sound of your fear of facing her. You sign in and Ms. Henken gives you the telltale blue slip. You slowly walk out of the office and back to your classroom where you know embarrassment awaits you.
This is the reality faced by many students daily since the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year. Let’s be honest, most of the student population used advisory as means to get an extra ten minutes before they had to be in class, and it benefitted them when they were a few minutes late. Now, students will have to come to terms with the fact that even though class starts at the exact same time as last year, they no longer can afford to be late if it means missing class.
Devastation has struck the student population. The age of advisory is over, and in its place a much crueler regime has taken form. The task of dealing with late students has been left to the teachers of blocks 1, 2, and 3. In fear of leaving a bad first impression on their teachers and racking up detention hours, students took drastic measures to ensure their punctuality during the first weeks of school. Last Wednesday, Martha Lucas ‘19, was taken to HCMC via ambulance from injuries sustained during a brutal fall up the front steps in an effort to get to her block 3 class. Martha broke her nose and sprained her ankle, preventing her from finishing the JV tennis season, ruining her fall season. Additionally, the attendance demographics have altered severely. Freshman have now become the least tardy grade, while the sophomores, juniors, and seniors generate detention hours at an alarming rate.
