Northwood’s main goal is to set students up the best they can for their future. To set students up for a bright future, teachers focus on being as supportive as possible, while assigning intense workloads to their students. One of the ways this support is shown is through nightly study halls.
For readers unfamiliar with study hall, here is how it works: every night, from 8 to 9:30, students attend a location on campus and complete all homework and projects; this scheduled time and set location help many students get their work done and avoid procrastinating.
Here is the interesting part of study hall: if a student meets the GPA requirements that apply to their specific grade year (e.g., a Junior), they are placed in a “Self-Directed” study hall. They can also be placed in self-directed by receiving at minimum 3 excellent effort grades. This is a luxury provided to students that rewards them for their hard work throughout the previous quarter. Self-directed study hall means students can study anywhere on campus, whether in their rooms, the dining room, the living room, or in the library. It’s a highly-valued freedom.
At the end of each quarter, the prospect of being placed in self-directed study hall creates a lot of buzz amongst the student body. Here are students’ thoughts and opinions of study hall and the requirements to “get out” of it:
Devin Smith ’25
“I just think the standards should be lowered if you are taking much harder classes,” Said Devin Smith ’25. “Like if you’re taking AP lit and you have a C it should count as a B and therefore you are still eligible for self-directed study hall. I also believe that if you go to Flex or labs for extra help, you get your assignments done on time, and you get decent scores on tests (C+ and up) you should be eligible for self-directed study hall.” [Ed. Note: honors and AP courses are weighted, but not as much as Smith would like: a half-letter grade for AP and Advanced courses and a quarter-letter grade for honors courses.]
Sasha Luhur ’27
“Personally, I don’t mind supervised or self-directed study hall; I feel like I’m usually the same in terms of productivity,” Sasha Luhur ’27 remarked. “Self-directed is nice because it gives me flexibility, and I can study with friends more easily. I think it’s good that study hall placements are determined not just by letter grades but also by effort because a lot of people are working really hard in their classes and deserve to choose where they want to study.”
Alex Randall ’25
“I think that study hall is a valuable part of the education experience Northwood provides,” added Alex Randall ’25. “It builds strong working habits that continue into college. Someone who went through spent their evenings working in high school is going to be in a better position than someone who didn’t spend their evenings working. I think the requirements to get out of study hall are reasonable because they require a good work ethic.”
Machai Davis ’25
“I think that the study hall is reasonable,” Machai David said. “I think that if you put in an excellent effort in the class you take, you should have a good grade.”
Alessandro Lacchi ’25
“I honestly hated going to study in the evening right from the start, especially because my room is in Bergamini, so it’s quite inconvenient,” commented Alessandro Lacchi ’25. “However, I must admit that the hope of doing well at school and being able to avoid study hall really encouraged me to work hard. I also honestly don’t think that putting people who are not able to study independently in a room is not productive; in fact, what you get is just a big distraction.”
Jett Jewett ’27
“Self-directed study hall is better than regular study hall because it offers more flexibility,” Jett Jewett ’27 said. “In self-directed study hall you can choose where to study as well as the flexibility to do other things. This freedom helps you manage your time better and finish your work more efficiently. Additionally, without the strict timeframe of study hall, you can go to bed earlier, which allows you to get more sleep.”
Hudson Marshall ’27
“I think that the study hall requirements here at Northwood are reasonable,” added Hudson Marshall ’27. “I think that between honor roll and effort honor roll, students have a fair chance to meet the self-directed study hall requirements. I think the study hall hours are very reasonable and suitable for everyone living on campus.”
Jacob Slagel ’26
“Over time, study hall has become tedious,” Jacob Slagel ’26 observed. “It can be helpful but some days you are tired or have had a long day and you don’t get work done. In retrospect, [self-directed study hall] is a good idea. I think it’s a good reward for students who work hard to get better grades or get effort grades. However, that can also be difficult with the reduced benefit of taking AP and Honors classes. This is true, especially for the first quarter, where some classes don’t have enough tests to truly portray a student’s academic strengths.”
