At last, the first trimester of the school year is coming to an end. As students hurry to turn in any incomplete or late assignments we sought to figure out what students around Centennial had to say about the changes that were brought with trimesters this year. Some students were in favor of the change and spoke highly of it, while others were a bit bitter towards the change and claimed they preferred the semester layout. Here’s what students and some staff had to say about their experiences this trimester.
We first spoke to Ethan Nguyen, senior class president. Ethan Nguyen discussed how learning the material in classes was a bit more difficult than in previous years, due to the expedited lessons. He explained that since teachers had to jam-pack so many lessons into a shorter amount of time, remembering the material was a bit more challenging. When we asked Ethan if the longer class periods helped, he explained that although the classes were much longer this year, teachers in most of his classes only got through one lesson per day. He continued to say that even if they had enough time for more than one, teachers wouldn’t even make any significant progress in the next lesson and would often have to go over it again the next day. Ethan also confessed that he preferred semesters over trimesters because he isn’t a fan of having to go through three finals. At last, it was safe to say that Ethan was not a fan of this year’s switch to trimesters.
We later met up with Noah Melton who discussed how trimesters have affected his social life here at school. Melton explained that having a split lunch can be extremely annoying, due to his third period and lunch being split. He also discussed how the possibility of three lunches lowered the chances of sharing lunchtime with friends. Oftentimes, Noah said he felt lonely and unmotivated to perform well in his classes because of this. Noah did however mention that the trimester concept has allowed him to do better in classes due to them being longer.
Finally, we spoke to Mr. Stutevoss, Centennial’s lead marketing, and business teacher, who had a very interesting take on the situation of trimesters over semesters. Stutevoss first began by explaining that he has enjoyed being fully back in person, and getting into the groove of regular classes. He also explained that the longer class periods are appreciated, but even the time given now is not enough. As we heard from Ethan earlier, Stutevoss discussed that there just isn’t enough time to get past more than one lesson. He proposed perhaps a 14-week grading period but admitted that that would be difficult to distribute throughout the year. He then discussed perhaps having A and B days where students would only meet with teachers 2 or 3 of the 5 days a week. He explained that this may be a more efficient grading period planning for him. However, Stutevoss did explain the trimester grading period because of how inconveniently long the semester grading period was.
Ultimately the switch to trimesters has been a big change for both faculty and students. Some more beneficial changes and improvements and some disadvantages. Now that we understand how trimesters work, we can prepare appropriately for the coming trimesters and try to make improvements as we go.