Most students when they hear the words “eight periods” immediately run for the hills. What they don’t understand is that the extra period doesn’t tack on another hour to the day.

Instead, it shortens periods in order to fit it in and makes it easier for students to complete all the credits they need to graduate. With the way the schedule is now, it can be hard to fit all of the required classes into a student’s day.

At North, if a student wants to take an elective, that class will take the place of one of the required classes.  These classes allow students a certain amount of creative freedom, but they are not a necessity.

They give students an opportunity to socialize with others with similar interests which is good, but at the same time it still doesn’t allow time to make sure students take the classes that allow them to graduate.

Eight-period day schedules are more flexible to work with so teens can keep the elective, along with the addition of more classes.  The flexibility also benefits dual enrollment, music and work release programs.

Currently, for the classes a student may have missed or failed during the school year, summer school might be an option, but not all classes have a summer school version, and not all students can go to summer school because of finances, family problems or their families will be traveling too much over the summer.

An extra class can be beneficial in this instance because then the student will not have to stress as much about making up the class because he or she will either have enough time to take it again along with other classes the following school year, or if the class is only a semester long it can be added again to the roster for the next semester.

The option for early graduation can also be promoted with the eight-period schedule since students have more chances to take required classes. Added on classes help seniors graduate earlier and move on to get a head start at a college like Joliet Junior College or even get a job for the remainder of that year.

Students with early release shouldn’t be affected too much as well. Just because there’s another class period does not mean they lose the chance to leave altogether. Those students will most likely just end up with a 7^th period and get to skip over the 8^th.

Really, there are a lot of good things about having an 8^th period, and having it does not necessarily mean compromising any benefits that students may already get. It is just a way to open up more windows.