By Lanie Lobdell
Spotlight Editor
Photo by Lanie Lobdell

With summer at a close and students referring to their schedules as they go about their day, the pressure is on for the school’s guidance counselors, as they are pestered by students looking to make late schedule changes. While the counselors are already busy with incoming students and errors in schedules, they have little time for changes. Yet they receive “20 to 30 requests a day [after schedule releases],” according to senior guidance counselor Bob Vozza.

Part of the late stream of schedule change requests comes down to procrastination. “It seems like students forget [about schedules] over the summer so when schedules come out, they bombard [us] with changes,” Vozza added. There are numerous reasons for a schedule change, but many students request them simply because they change their minds. However, many don’t take the deadline on May 26 for such a change seriously. “After that deadline, unless there is a mistake on the schedule, we can’t really make any changes,” Vozza said. However, some special cases can be granted with the approval of a department chair. Resultingly, many students are left either stuck in a class they don’t want to be in or with an access period.

That being said, some lucky students have got away with late changes. Choosing classes isn’t a straightforward issue. Senior Karolina Hrehorowicz said, “I found out [Metea has] Intro to Engineering, and I’ve been interested in taking that path, [so] I wanted to see what it was like before college.” Having not been signed up for the class, she had to make the change after the deadline. “I have thought about the work that other people have put into changing my schedule; that’s why I was so hesitant on asking to change it at first,” Hrehorowicz added. However, when she did decide to make the change, she communicated effectively with her guidance counselor to try to avoid the unnecessary difficulties of the most last minute changes.

Beginning the school year after two and a half months of summer is a tough transition, and the guidance counselors know this better than most. “Start strongly and build good relationships with your peers and the staff,” Freshman guidance counselor Tom Daugherty said. “Students should be prepared when choosing their classes,” Vozza added.