#and the annex is just the teachers lounge

[geeky-nightphilosopher]

Wait.

The Librarians are just teachers.

Jenkins- Principle

Flynn- English/ Drama

Eve- P.E.

Cassie- Math/ Science

Jacob- History/ Art

Ezekiel- Computer

[some-different-account]

primary school: 6-block, 8-block, the playground, the junior playground, the field, the court, the hall (aka the gym), the library, the office, the teacher's lounge, the shed highschool: A block to H block (where G block includes three gyms of varying sizes), J block (including the office - the front office & student office), K block, M block, N block, the hall, the library, the field, the courts, the pool, the reserve across the street university: Central, North Arts, Fine Arts (aka south arts, which consists of three buildings), Rehua, Erskine, Rutherford, Eng Core, Beatrice Tinsley, Forestry, Meremere, Len Lye, West, Haere-roa, the Health Centre, the Rec Centre, K1, Matariki, JPH (11-storey library w/ underground foodcourt + cafe + pharmacy + postshop + tech shop + whatever else area), EPS (2-storey library PURELY for engineering & science books), the other one (the library that has the archives), the "engineering and science annex"(???????), the entire other campus that's across the giant field, the giant field, the great mass of buildings that makes up the engineering department, that one building I walk past on an almost-daily basis but have never seen people use (I think it's IT support..?), the bookshop, John Britten, James Logie, Karl Popper, the other one, the psychology centre, the, anyway my point is that the number of buildings at the school seems to increase exponentially with the level of education, and i havent gotten over that fact yet because wow that's simply just a lot of buildings??!!?!?!?

[theechosas]

SOS: What’s Happening to Our Clubs?

Eagles, our high school is undergoing puberty and has experienced a massive “glow up”. The first floor of our annex building is now a snazzy futuristic lounge with flat-screen TVs, the old lounge has given way to a STEM/creativity centre, and our logo has, once again, evolved. But puberty also comes with its downsides, like teenage angst and acne. And the inflamed forehead zit we’re talking about today is the new schedule–– specifically, how it’s stifling the potential of clubs.

In previous years, club meetings were held either during our daily 30 minute break or 50 minute lunch, permitting students to attend two different club meetings in one day. A student could, hypothetically, be a recognised member of ten clubs. This year, with the new schedule shortening break time for Extended Learning (EL), clubs–– whether they are interest, service, or honour societies–– are all finding it harder to meet. Membership is dropping, productivity is slowing, and students are not happy.

In a survey sent out to 10th, 11th, and 12th graders–– students who have experienced both schedules–– 63.4% of respondents reported to be members of clubs with conflicting meeting times. SAS proudly boasts on their website that “there’s a wide variety of clubs at SAS – over 100 at last count” [1], yet this new schedule makes it possible for only 15 at most to meet weekly. And that’s pushing it. With break being just 20 minutes long now, officers have to account for the time it takes for their members to get to and from their meeting location, leaving just a little over ten minutes for actual meeting times. Here’s the problem with ten minute meeting times. The Executive Student Council’s service club audit strongly hints that a successful service club must host “events and activities outside of meetings”. It definitely takes longer than just ten minutes to organise club events.

63.4% of respondents reported to be members of clubs with conflicting meeting times.

“It took one entire year for ORKID to plan its end-of-year fashion show,” Julia Kim (’20), Vice-President of ORKID, claims. “And that was with last year’s lunch meetings.” Last year, lunch lasted 50 minutes.

Longze Chen (’20), the Public Relations officer of Executive Council, adds that he doesn’t believe “the current situation for club meetings is effective” as “ten minutes is simply not enough time for any type of club to work efficiently.” With break meetings out of the question, that leaves clubs to meet at lunch or after school. But after-school meetings are unfeasible as many high school students take the bus home and are not willing to stay for the 4:30 PM bus. Therefore, close to 100 clubs are competing to meet during the same five lunch slots.

In the same survey, students were asked how satisfied they are with the current schedule for club meetings. Responses were overwhelmingly negative with 23.6% selecting “not satisfied at all” and 52.8% selecting “not so satisfied”. In contrast, 22% of respondents selected “somewhat satisfied” and 1.4% selected “very satisfied”. It’s evident that the student body wants the schedule to change.

It’s evident that the student body wants the schedule to change.

“I think it goes against the school’s mission statement in that it limits the power of students to live their dreams,” Luke Heald (’20) says. “I’ve had so many members drop out of my clubs because of previous conflicts that didn’t exist due to break not being thirty minutes long.” Andre Lai (’20) remarks, “[The new schedule] makes it frustrating for the members of dropped clubs because they’re losing manpower for potential projects.” This is a recurring theme in many individuals’ responses. A student who requested to remain anonymous said, “People are prioritising honour societies and service clubs, leaving interest clubs to be ignored. The new schedule seemed to ignore the this.” Like Heald said, the school promotes students to seek and live out their passions, yet this schedule is blatantly restricting students from doing so.

You might be wondering now, has Exec done anything? Where is Exec?

Heon Lee (’20), President of Exec, says that the council has “brought up the issue of club meetings with admin on multiple occasions” to petition on behalf of the student body, but have been “shut down” each time. “[Admin] told us that teachers have to attend Professional Learning Community (PLC) meetings during Extended Learning, which is why they can’t be present to advise club meetings during that time,” he explains. “And on their non-PLC days, teachers host the Extended Learning sessions. It’s a simple dilemma.”

Unfortunately, hosting club meetings during EL seems to be the only viable option anyway. And this idea is very popular amongst students. From the same survey previously mentioned, 87.5% of students supported this suggestion.

87.5% of students support EL club meetings.

EL has become a subject of slight roasting amongst SAS students. Many complain of insufficient number of available spots for independent study time, and although many students (especially seniors) appreciate the extra work time, just as many view this time as an hour-long break to do as they like. And they’d like to be in club meetings. “I feel like Extended Learning can be opened up for students to do club work or anything else students need to work on–– not just seeing teachers,” Elizabeth Zeck (’21) says. If EL became a time where students could also hold meetings, this would not only solve the schedule conflicts but also become a helpful tool for attendance keeping. Club advisors can allow members to sign-up for their club meeting on PowerSchool using the same programme as Flex. Students without club meetings during that EL session can still sign up for other classes and independent study. For teachers, it also means on their non-PLC days they can either host a session for their own course or a meeting for their club.

But there is good news in the midst of all this mayhem. Exec meets with admin tomorrow lunch, and Heon has promised that they have not forgotten to voice their fellow students’ dissatisfaction. And today on September 17th, 2019, as I was writing this article in a library booth, Mr. Muldoon actually stopped by to ask me how I feel about EL and informed me that he is making a survey for students to express their feelings and provide suggestions.

Eagles, when that survey comes out... you know what to do.

Sources

[1] https://www.saschina.org/life-at-sas/clubs

Special thanks to all those who took the survey and/or provided quotes!

Annie Xie