By: Amelia Rogers-Neubarth
If students could change one thing about school, what would it be? Students at Ponte Vedra High School (PVHS) were asked this question, and here are the results:
Junior, Cecelia Redner says more parking would be one of the best additions to our school because seniors are the only grade guaranteed a spot. While this issue has been mentioned many times before, there isn’t any other space to provide more parking to the students on campus. Another change Redner brought up is that PVHS has very little indoor seating for lunch. This would be beneficial to students in the Florida summer weather.
“If the school could provide job simulations, shadowing, or mini-internships, I think students would have a better idea about what they want to do in their life. This would reduce the stress of senior year a bit because students would be more set on what they want to major in.”
Lauren Thompson (12)
A common response was that some students’ learning styles are different from how PVHS teachers instruct. Junior, Karis Comeau says that some teachers aren’t connecting with the students enough on a level to understand the material accurately. Therefore, students are doing far extra work at home just to comprehend what was taught and not fall behind. This goes hand in hand with students also saying some teachers don’t seem like they have any sort of passion for teaching which makes things even harder for students. “If I don’t have a teacher who is engaged, how can they expect the same in return,” said Redner.
Another idea from senior Lauren Thompson is for more career exposure. “If the school could provide job simulations, shadowing, or mini-internships, I think students would have a better idea about what they want to do in their life. This would reduce the stress of senior year a bit because students would be more set on what they want to major in.” This would be very beneficial to all grades. Even freshmen would get an early start and motivation for college.
Grades are often skewed from poor formative averages. Senior Asher Sutaria thinks quizzes should be treated more like a practice run to understand where students are lacking knowledge, so those areas can be improved before the summative. “Whether that means they aren’t weighted as heavily or structured differently in terms of when they’re administered, or what they contain is up to interpretation and debate,” said Sutaria. Another point Sutaria brought up is the retake policy at PVHS. Retakes should not just be treated like a crutch and should be used as a genuine chance to improve students’ knowledge. Too many students are bombing every test because they have the mentality that they have retakes. “We shouldn’t reward that mentality, so there should either be a limit on retakes or some other solution that removes those from relying on them,” said Sutaria.
A final suggestion to add to our school is a morning news show shown on the classroom TV’s. Junior Ross Golden thinks this could be interesting to students while promoting school events, sports, and student opportunities. It would also be a more visual start to the day than just the voice on the intercom. “Other schools do this daily, and it could be a good addition to PVHS,” said Golden.
Graphic by Philip Berkwit
