As the end of the first quarter of the school year approaches in the coming weeks, freshman students are finally settling into a routine at their brand new school. What’s different about this year’s freshmen is that they are not allowed to leave campus during open mods, arrive late, or leave early.
In previous years, an off-campus pass was a privilege for all grade levels, as long as students were, “in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing”. Current sophomores, juniors and seniors have all had at least one year to experience this. Now, the ninth graders must find other ways to occupy their time, rather than leaving school.
Freshman JJ Kreiling said that he and other students are often left without anything to do and wish they could use their time for other things off campus.
“I’ll be stuck in the school and I’ll be in a situation where I don’t need to see a teacher [and] I don’t have homework. I want to be able to do stuff or go get food and we just don’t have the ability to do that,” Kreiling said.
Although many freshmen tend to spend their time in the English IMC, they find it to be a place where socialization is often frowned upon. However, few have another place to go during open mods.
“I think in most [IMCs] teachers are pretty strict about doing your work even if you don’t have work to do. Sometimes you’re not even allowed to talk to your friends or just not that loud, which is kind of annoying,” Kreiling said.
Freshman Nadia Aboeata said that other freshmen have been dreaming about they are most excited for when they finally get their off-campus pass: freedom.
“Other students have been saying that they don’t like hanging out in the IMC and have been saying that they can’t wait until they have their driver’s licenses and get off-campus passes so that they can leave. And they’ve been saying that they don’t like hanging out in the English IMC and they’ve been trying to find other places to go,” Aboeata said.
In the coming years, this year’s freshman look forward to finally experiencing what generations of students before them have loved about Westside. But for now, they must be patient (and quiet) in the IMCs.
