When this school year began, our student body faced an impactful change from previous years: an additional minute was added to the passing period of the high school bell schedule. The past two school years, students have had only four minutes to travel in between classes- a tight deadline for students traveling to entirely opposite sides of the large building.

Scrambling through the crowded hallways is like navigating traffic on a busy highway. Without ample time to get to your destination, despite how much you speed-walk, you just cannot make it to your class before the bell rings. Additionally, the stress of making it to the next classroom before risking the consequence of being marked tardy weighs heavily on students.

As if the stress of school work, tests and extracurricular activities isn’t worrying enough, students were forced to feel anxious about reaching their classes in a timely manner under the previous bell schedule.

In a poll conducted on Sept. 30 by the Township Times Instagram account (@thetownshiptimes), 95% of students reported that they felt stressed by last year’s bell schedule while only 5% voted no. Out of 85 total responses, 81 students answered yes and just four answered no. 

There is also something surprisingly refreshing about the new bell schedule itself. During a regular schedule, class now starts and ends at a time ending in zero or five. Although it may sound like a small adjustment, this creates rhythm and structure that feels natural and easy to follow. The timing of classes no longer feels confusing and random- instead it creates a steady, organized schedule that brings a sense of order within a school environment that can feel so chaotic otherwise. Memorizing what time your classes start and end was difficult when the old bell schedule felt so randomized, but now when every class begins and ends on a zero or five, it becomes much easier to keep track of the day.

Beyond the logistics of the additional 60 seconds, the extra time represents respect for students’ needs. It acknowledges that we are not machines who can teleport from class to class; we are people who need time to travel across the big, crowded high school and to take a breath between classes.

By giving back that extra minute during the passing period, the school administration ensures us that students are being seen and that they are taking steps towards making our days just a little bit more manageable. It may seem like a small change, but for students, it is the pivotal difference between rushing in stress and moving through the day with balance. Sometimes the simplest adjustments like this can yield the biggest impact.