Recently implemented by the school in the 2024-25 year has been WIN Time Wednesdays. Every other week, during Connections, students can sign up to go to whichever classroom they need help in. Everyone feels like they benefit from participating, but some think it’s needed more often, while others think what’s being done is perfect.
Junior Ethan Yakes said he likes WIN time because it allows him to make up for missing work from his classes after sick days.
“I benefited a lot from this WIN time,” Yakes said. “Without it, I wouldn’t even be able to take the Spanish test, and I’d be failing the class. It helped me reach my academic goal and continue my academic prowess.”
According to Polk, there is a lot of space in the new media center that is not being used. He suggests we use that area for students to work during WIN time Wednesdays so he can focus on the students who need the help.
“I hope that we can use that space in the media center for a spot where students can actually spend time and do their own thing, obviously, within reason, so I’m not feeling like I need to have something for students to do that is not using the WIN time for my space specifically,” Polk said.
Sophomore Scarlett Ramos said going to WIN Time on Wednesdays helped her prepare for her AP Chemistry test. She feels more confident and ready for this test.
“I feel a lot more confident with the test after going to WIN time. It was very helpful to meet with Mr Polk,” Ramos said. “If I did more (WIN Wednesdays) in the future, I would feel even more prepared.”
According to Yakes, he was having a rough time in Spanish before coming to WIN time.
“[Yes I’ve been struggling], not grade-wise, but I feel like there were certain aspects of Spanish that I wasn’t quite grasping, like understanding the books that we’re reading and the work that we’re doing in class, WIN Time helped me catch up,” Yakes said.
AP Chemistry teacher Alexander Polk says he likes the concept as of now, but believes it still needs work. He said some students take up space in WIN Time when they don’t need the help.
“Right now, I think overall, I’m a fan of the idea. I’m intrigued to see how it continues to get implemented,” Polk said. “Right now, I think one of the hardest parts is having students that don’t necessarily need to be in the space because they are all caught up, distracting others.”
According to sophomore Drina Meyer, she felt like she was very behind in chemistry before she went to WIN Wednesday, but going helped her prepare.
“I didn’t understand anything before I went to WIN Wednesday. I feel much more confident in my skills now for this test,” Meyer said.
According to Ramos, her class is very packed, and it’s hard to find time to talk to Mr Polk.
“I was struggling because I didn’t have the time to meet with him one-on-one during class, so WIN time made an extra opportunity rise to talk to him,” Ramos said.
Meyer said she doesn’t think we have enough WIN Time on Wednesdays. She said she wishes we could go to WIN Time whenever we have connections.
“I think we should have them more often; we should have it once every week or more,” Meyer said. “So, whenever we have connections, students should have the option to leave.”
According to Polk, he understands some students might want to meet with multiple teachers or need some extra help.
“My first thought is, talk to the teachers about if they’re available at other times, like before and after school,” Polk said. “And then if there’s one of the teachers that’s not available before or after school, meet with them during WIN time. And then whenever possible, if you can stay after or come in before, do that with those teachers. I say that, recognizing that not everybody has the ability to do it before or after school as students. So that can get a little bit tricky if you’re in that boat.”
