As the new school year sets in, there have been many different views on the new schedule that came with it. Immediately after arriving to school for the new year, students had mixed feelings about this new change. Adapting to change, in any form, is always difficult and takes organization and patience. At first glance, the majority of the Cape Henry students and faculty members were confused with the new schedule.

Through the process of interviewing and gathering the thoughts of those in the Cape Henry community, all of the people that were interviewed gave somewhat negative feedback. Although their feedback came across as negative, most also shared at the end of each interview that they would continue to approach the schedule open mindedly as they went further into the school year. Some interviewees were interviewed twice (once during the first week of school, and once just at the end of week 3). Some people’s thoughts had changed between the two interviews, understandably so considering every student may feel disoriented at the start of a new year.

President of the SCA, Matt Johnson,‘18, shared his take on the new schedule. Matt has been a part of our community for a long part of his life and has been exposed to every new change that Cape Henry has set in place for each school year. Matt feels that his education, up to this point, has always been secure. He feels this way because of the flexibility and understanding that Cape Henry is known for. “What made Cape, Cape, is its old bell schedule and its flexibility and time for more interaction. With the old bell schedule came much more freedom to get our work done. Now, I am feeling that we are strictly just arriving to school, doing work in between, and then leaving campus.”

Connor Spillane,‘19, gave his opinion of the new schedule during an interview at the end of week one of school. Connor explained how he is trying to look into the new schedule as positively as he can, as he shared how he has enjoyed the longer lunch, and the mixed in days where the dismissal time is 10 minutes earlier. Connor said that if there was one thing that he wished that Cape Henry put into play, it would be “utilizing an A day, B day schedule with 8 classes.” Because Connor has spent some time in a public school, and has become accustomed to the schedules, he has admitted to liking and connecting strongest with the A and  B day schedule. With this said, he still is holding a positive approach towards trying out Cape Henry’s new schedule.

George Selamaj, ‘19, was interviewed twice, and asked his initial thoughts on the new schedule, followed a few weeks later by the same question. His responses showed some change. When George was asked the first time how the new schedule is settling in with him, he responded in a bewildered fashion that “It’s random and there’s no pattern or order to it. I don’t like how it’s 7 days and not 5 days.” George still feels similar when he was asked the second time, but after being able to actually apply it into his busy weeks, he has taken a positive from it. He shared, “There is huge difference in the amount of homework that I have, a lot more that is, but the new schedule has demanded of me to learn to not procrastinate with the time that I have, which for me, is very little.”

Mr. Angilly, Director of Student Life, ties both the pros and the cons of the new schedule together into a strong response to the interview question. Just as the students were, Mr. Angilly was asked for his truthful opinion on how he was adjusting to the new schedule. “For me, I like that there’s an academic class at the end of each day instead of casual advisory time. I really am bummed at the fact that I don’t get to spend my mornings with my advisory and some days don’t even see my advisees at all. The good thing about this though is that more people are coming to school on time which is great. On the flip side, I really do wish I had time to spend with my advisory everyday. I do like that we now have grade specific meetings in addition to our Upper School assembly, I feel that it gives us the chance to be able to address any necessary grade specific topics.”

With mixed feelings across the board, the Cape Henry community has remained positive and without much complaint about this change. With any change, always comes some confusion, but without change our community would be going through the same motions year after year. The new schedule is providing Cape Henry students and faculty a chance to adapt and embrace change inside the classroom and to learn together as everyone becomes more comfortable with this.