The chatter of RCMS students fills the cafeteria as they share their schedules for the upcoming semester with their friends.
According to a poll of RCMS students, many students are excited for the new semester but some aren’t so eager to leave their first semester class behind.
For art teacher Ms. Ruth Furpahs, a new semester means new people. She thinks that we are a really lucky school to have this option of semester classes. She also thinks that all electives should be semester because most students like to do bits of multiple stuff.
Ms. Furpahs said, “Some students just want to dabble.”
Another point she has is that in high school, you won’t have much of a choice. She said we will have no time in high school to do electives we like.
“Middle school is the time you have a choice,” said Ms. Furpahs, “and you should take advantage of it.”
Additionally, Ms. Furpahs likes semester electives because she can expose more students to art classes.
“I can teach a lot of students,” Ms. Furpahs said.
Mrs. Jennifer Miley, director of student services, puts classes in order for the 1,400 students at RCMS. She looks over schedules and tries to give kids the classes they want. She also glances over each schedule to make sure nobody is missing classes.
Mrs. Miley thinks that teachers would be excited for the change because they get to expose what they are teaching to new students. She said that the students here at Carson can get through any problem.
“I think that the students at RCMS are resilient,” she said.“I think they are going to adjust well and I think they will be excited to explore different classes this year.”
Mrs. Miley believes that most students would be excited for the upcoming change because she feels that kids would enjoy learning new things from different teachers.
“Students are yearning to learn something new,” she said.
She said the hardest part of her job is not being able to guarantee that students get exactly what they want.
“I really wish we had more seats and teachers available to teach,” Mrs. Miley said. “I want all the students to have the opportunity to be enrolled in what they are really interested in and when I can’t do that I feel really bad.”
Aafreen Minhas, 13, on the Champions team, is also looking forward to the new semester. She said that she is excited to experience new things and new classes. She also is eager to meet new people.
“I kind of like it because I get a new lunch and I get to meet new people,” she said. “I am extremely looking forward to experiencing new experiences because it’s a new experience.”
Ms. Furpahs agrees with what Aafreen is saying and she believes that having semester classes is a good thing.
“I’m glad we do have those options,” she said.
Bridget Xiao, 13, an eighth-grader on Dream team, also agrees with what Aafreen and Ms. Furpahs think.
Some teachers and students don’t like the semester change. They mainly don’t like it because it is a big change on their schedule, according to Ray Gross , 12, on the Trailblazer team.
“I’ve gotten used to seeing them every other day,” Ray said.
Ms. Furpahs believes that students feel as if they are starting their school year again and it will take some time to get used to the new schedules.
People like Anjali Mallangi, 12, on Dream team, also become close to classmates and teachers they used to have and will miss in the second quarter.
“My teachers are really nice and I will miss them,” Anjali said.
Aafreen’s thoughts also go along the same line as Anjali’s and Ray’s. She doesn’t really want to change semesters.
“I feel like I don’t really want to change semesters cause I feel like I’m going to miss a lot of people,” Aafreen says.
Some teachers also feel this way about their students. Ms. Lina Hashem, who teaches Journalism and Creative Writing, which are both semester-long classes, echoes this sentiment for her Journalism students.
“The downside for me is that I’ve just taught my students how to be good reporters and now I lose them,” Ms. Hashem said.
A lot of students and teachers have differing opinions on the semester change. According to Ms. Furpahs, most teachers have gotten used to the semester change because they’ve been teaching for so long, but some teachers, like Ms. Hashem, really miss their students when they are gone. But we should have a positive mindset and keep going.
“I hope the kids enjoy the second semester,” said Mrs. Miley.
