Northwood students and staff have adjusted to winter schedule, which has changed this year due to the pandemic. Winter schedule at Northwood consists of Mondays and Friday’s classes starting in the morning at 8:00 am with cocurricular starting after the end of the academic day. Tuesdays through Thursdays have classes beginning at 12:30 pm with cocurricular starting in the morning before the academic day. Winter schedule has been around in one form or another at Northwood for generations and it is particularly beneficial for Snowsport athletes who can ski on the mountain without missing academics or having training cut short because of limited daylight.
Dean of Academic Affairs Ms. Noel Carmichael (Photo: Mr. Michael Aldridge)
This year, winter schedule has been a little different for returning students with classes being an hour long every day, a change that has gotten mixed reviews.
The Mirror checked in with a couple of students to hear their opinions on the new schedule. Leah DeFilippo ‘22 said, “The winter schedule is nice, especially as a skier. I personally really like skiing in the morning, so that we can be done with training and focus on school for the rest of the day.”
Calem Luke Tommy ‘22, a soccer player from South Africa, said, “I like how the classes start later because it gives us enough time to prepare our minds for the day and classes ahead, the hourlong classes are a bit of a stretch and is not always enjoyable, but I feel as if we get a lot more work in than we did previously with the 45-minute-long classes.”
Other students have said that they are still getting used to the hourlong classes that came along with winter schedule and are not sure why they are hour long. Dean of Academic Affairs, Ms. Noel Carmichael, explained why class length was increased this year. “Hourlong classes three times a week allows us to maintain the same number of minutes of class time as we had in the fall trimester while cutting down on the transition time in between classes. This helps us complete the academic day before dinner time.”
Although it might be hard to sit through hourlong periods, students understand they are actually getting the academic day completed earlier and faster.
