In recent years, The Nexus has noticed that Homeroom, a time set aside for building connections with fellow students and teachers, has fallen short of its original purpose. The reality for many Homerooms now is that they’ve become 15 minutes of screen time, in which students find more correspondence with their phones than with their peers. Therefore, we must either ensure its future success or eliminate it entirely, rather than let it become obsolete.
When Westview opened in 2002, teachers and staff built Homeroom upon the idea that they wanted to offer students a consistent place throughout their four years of high school–that amidst all the chaos of adolescence, a crowd of familiar faces every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, would help ground students, creating a familiar and relaxing environment for underclassmen and upperclassmen alike. In the past couple of years, Homeroom evidently has fallen short of these high expectations. But, The Nexus feels that if carried out properly, Homeroom could build strong interpersonal relationships; the potential of this outcome would be far better than removing it completely. Therefore, a solution is needed to restore Homeroom’s original intentions of being a space for students of all grade levels to bond and build lasting connections.
First, we must take steps to foster a friendly environment. Though we recognize that it’s difficult to strike up a conservation with a stranger, students must make the effort to get off their phones and socialize in order to reap the benefits of Homeroom. The bonds that can be built will be extremely impactful, especially for freshmen, who are able to take advice from upperclassmen for upcoming classes, Westview culture, and more. Facilitating conservation could also be the role of student senators, in which ASB could explain in their monthly student senate meetings.
Further, we suggest at the beginning of the year, teachers as well are instructed to look at Homeroom as an interactive class, rather than as an intermediate time for preparation or grading papers. The Nexus believes that teachers should make the effort to not only build bonds between students but also with them to truly foster uplifting interactions.
Another limiting factor to Homeroom’s success is its shortened time frame. The current homeroom only runs Mondays and Fridays, which — considering the number of holidays, professional growth days, and half days that fall at the beginning and end of the week — is barely any time at all to foster connection between students and therefore, making most Homerooms a desolate and indifferent place. This prevents the class from living up to its full potential, considering the planning of activities, like Food Fridays or other games, cease with the lack of Wednesday meetings to plan them. Homeroom now feels disjointed due to the sparse time that is allocated to it and for it to have a positive impact on student’s lives, Westview must put back in place its initial tri-weekly schedule.
Students have also expressed discontentment with Homeroom due to the fact that some are without a proper classroom, such as the band room or gym, forced to sit on the floor, or are regularly changing locations. Having an inviting, comfortable, and consistent environment helps to make the homeroom experience more enjoyable and interclass bonding more possible.
Overall, implementing these adjustments would have major effects on the efficacy of homeroom. The value of creating consistency throughout one’s four years of high school in the form of a familiar, uplifting environment cannot be understated and The Nexus encourages Westview to take more accountability in ensuring such a positive outcome.