A year ago, students were thrust into the most unfamiliar of times, having to deal with trying to learn while also being in the midst of a pandemic. In order to help students adapt to such hardship, the WHS administration created “Remote Wednesday,” a day where students would be all-remote and have their classes only until 10:30. After 10:30, students would have the ability to meet with their teachers until noon for some extra help. These Wednesdays not only gave students much needed guidance, but they also took a lot of stress off students’ shoulders. Giving students almost a full day to catch up on their work provided a good break in between the long week.

Going into this year, the administration planned on doing a somewhat similar structure, giving students an “enrichment period” towards the end of each Wednesday. This period would have been used for a similar purpose as last year’s Wednesdays, which would have been to offer help to students who need guidance in a certain subject. Administration, however, scrapped this idea before it was even put into action. In a statement released by Principal Stephen Imbusch, he cites that the two concepts of the revamped Wednesdays, which were filling students’ learning gaps and getting teachers to work together in Professional Learning Committees, would be unable to coexist.

Even though the “Enrichment Wednesday” will most likely not come back, it still would have been extremely beneficial for most students. With the return of the 6X8 class block system, students now have double the classes they handled last year with less time due to the return of most extracurricular activities. Any time during the school day allotted to a student’s studies would improve someone’s grades significantly, as it did so last year. But because students are being fully immersed into a regular school year, many will get off to bumpy starts just for the fact that they are not given any time during the day for guidance (with the exception of those who have study blocks). 

“Enrichment Wednesday” was a great idea that could have assisted students tremendously, giving them time to turn to a teacher for help when they are struggling. It would have given less time dedicated to classes during the school day, which would have made students look at Wednesdays in a positive manner; however, because the administration was unable to find a solution in making this Wednesday format work, students of WHS will be left to wonder what impact they could have had on their overall grades.