As the second semester of the 2014-2015 school year comes to a comfortable cushion of normalcy, the teachers and faculty awaken the students with an abrupt announcement of a mandatory Academic Lab.

Director of Academics, Michael Fenton talks about the reasoning behind the decision to start an academic lab.

“We don’t want students who are behind in their school work to stay there,” Fenton said. “We wanted to think of the best way to help them be able to utilize opportunities such as this one, to work on the grades they have in order to strive for better ones.”

Some of the students are openly on board with the whole premise of the situation, such as Devin Jakusz, ’15.

“I think it’s a good way for students to get homework help,” Jakusz said. “Our focus is on getting missing assignments finished on time.”

There are also some students not completely thrilled with the whole idea of going to a mandatory after school session, due to having poor grades.

Junior Marisa Jonigian shares her thoughts on Academic Lab.

“I think if kids wanted to get good grades, they would,” Jonigian said. “They shouldn’t be forced to go to some after school hang out for half an hour – where they probably wouldn’t do the work anyways – for making the choices they made; it was their choice.”

Fenton goes on to explain the grand purpose behind the academic labs, and how he believes they will benefit the student body.

This change is impacting students, sports teams, drama clubs, music departments, and any other campus group that you can think of. Parents seem to be giving positive feedback, so it would seem that this new installment is here to stay. — Superintendent Jeremy Brown

“We have completed something that forces the conversation in February instead of waiting until it’s too late in May when some of our students are on the verge of graduation,” Fenton says. “This way students are able to graduate with achieving the intention of graduating with good grades. We want to hold students accountable for improving their grades.”

There are three main administrators who are on board with this whole endeavor: Amy Deffenbacher, Michelle Warkentin and Michael Fenton.

Superintendent Jeremy Brown is excited about the lab and believes the cause is beneficial as well. The faculty is doing their best to get the whole school involved. Teachers are involved, the athletic department is involved, etc.

This change is impacting students, sports teams, drama clubs, music departments, and any other campus group that you can think of. Parents seem to be giving positive feedback, so it would seem that this new installment is here to stay.

If students have a grade of a D or an F by any Tuesday at 3 p.m., they are required to participate in the Academic Labs held on Wednesday or Thursday. The student gets the option of which day they choose to attend. On Wednesdays, the session start at 3:05 and goes until 3:35, and on Thursdays, from 2:55 until 3:25.

Those in charge of this new opportunity view it as a good way to keep students from having unacceptable grades and getting them on track for things like college and the real world.

This writer can be reached via Twitter: @kedamschen.

For more features, read the Feb. 12 article, Substitue teacher makes the most of her experience.