By Kyra Williams
Staff Writer
Mira Costa students and faculty experienced finals for the first time before Winter Break this January 9.
With the previous schedule, finals took place during the last week of January. Because of this, students were preoccupied with studying for finals during break, according to Mira Costa Principal Dr. Ben Dale. Having finals before break gave students more play time, down time and family time and allowed students to be more stress free.
“I felt no stress over break because I knew there was nothing left I could do about my grades other than wait and see how I did,” Costa Senior Amelie Vergnolle said. “Not having finals before break made the holidays easy to enjoy. I still managed to enjoy holiday events before finals and on the Monday prior to finals. Students didn’t have school on Friday. because I managed my time to accommodate them into my schedule.”
First and second period finals were on Tuesday, third and fourth period finals were on Wednesday and fifth and sixth were on Thursday. Costa had minimum days during the entire week of finals. The administration plans on holding finals before break for the next three years.
“I think that packing in half of a year into 16 weeks was very difficult for the students, particularly for seniors who were busy doing college applications,” Mira Costa parent and alumni Lisa Taylor said. “Some college applications were due January first, so having finals right before Christmas was difficult. I do believe, however, that starting school after winter break with a completely blank slate is nice.”
In the future, Dale would like to split the year into three periods: first semester, second semester and a testing period. A testing period would be a designated time at the end of the year dedicated to testing, such as standardized and advanced placement testing during the month of June.
“I thought having finals before break this year created an unusual emotional atmosphere,” Costa English teacher and Manhattan Beach Unified Teachers Association President Shawn Chen said. “I think in the future we can improve the schedule and it will be great.”
Another reason the administration has implemented this schedule is to allow students to get out of school the same time as most schools in the country, Dale said. Costa normally gets out the third week of June, but most schools have already started summer by the second week of June. There have been 100’s of requests to get out early due to trips or sport commitments, according to Dale.
“Having more time this summer before tournaments start will give me a chance to practice and prepare,” Costa Senior Softball Captain Jamie Hoffman said. “I will also not miss as much school if I have a major tournament because the new schedule will provide time for me to go to my tournament.”
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