The WYN Times, They Are a-Changin'
Kira Tarkiainen | ktarkiainen23@dtechhs.org
Cynthia Shi | cshi23@dtechhs.org
Since December, d.tech’s WYN time schedule has undergone numerous changes. One of the major changes was allocating specific WYN activities to certain days. WYN slots on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays are dedicated to teacher-led classes and independent work times. Slots on Wednesdays and Fridays are dedicated to club meetings and curiosity project work times, as well as independent work times. Club leaders and teachers are expected to abide by this schedule, and cannot offer their meetings on “off-days.” Additionally, students now can only sign up for one WYN time per slot. They must ask the host of the WYN time to remove them if they wish to cancel their signup.
School director, Melissa Mizel, explains the motivation behind changing the schedule. “[The changes] started with the question: what can we do to create a little more structure?” According to Mizel, some kids had been using the WYN slots as “free-time” to hang with friends, rather than using it for extra curriculars. “The reason we have flexible scheduling (lab days, WYN time, Dragon Time) is for students to pursue interest, and we were finding that students didn’t have the structure to do those things.” With the changes, Melissa hopes students would be encouraged to attend more clubs as well as start more projects. The restrictions on signing up for and canceling WYN times were added to account for previous attendance issues.
Although the changes were implemented with positive intent, the new schedule has since been criticized by some students. Some are now finding it increasingly difficult to schedule their classes; others continue to use WYN slots as leisure time, as opposed to pursuing their interests. “People want to hang out with their friends, and that’s the way they use the time,” says sophomore at d.tech, Lia Joy Santos, two months after the changes were put in place. Lia also discloses the difficulties she currently faces when trying to meet with her teachers. “Now when I want to meet with a teacher on club days, I have to sign up for another club, then tell the club leader that I have to go to see my teacher, and then [the teacher] has to get slacked… it’s just a really hard thing because I’m just trying to learn more.” For students like Lia, this “structured” schedule seems to cause more of a hassle when coordinating classes.
The question remains: is this new schedule an improvement from the previous one? Many students and staff have contradicting opinions on this topic. While some believe these changes are necessary to provide students with more direction, others feel constricted by them. It’s up for the community to determine if the benefits of this schedule outweigh its issues. Melissa encourages students to provide feedback through their advisors until the majority can agree on an effective and efficient WYN schedule.