As many may have noticed, 9:25 am on Mondays feels a little different this school year. In fact, every weekday except Thursdays is a little different. This year, BC introduces Lancer LINK, and a few new rules for Lancer Block.

Here’s the quick rundown: Lancer LINK occurs every Monday, or the first day of the school week, from 9:25 am to 9:59 am. It was created to build lasting relationships between the grade levels. Each student is randomly assigned a homeroom, and each homeroom contains about five students from each grade. Each homeroom is paired with a Freshman Mentor, a returning sophomore, junior, or senior, who guides the class in inter-grade relationship-building activities. The rest of the days of the week (except Thursdays) is Lancer Block. Similar to last year, students may use this 30 minute period to make up work, ask teachers for help, or begin homework. However, the new rules require students to sign in with a teacher they currently have (instead of with any teacher in the building) and hold club meetings only during Friday Lancer Blocks.*

On the surface, the addition of Lancer LINK and new guidelines to Lancer Block seem to be more beneficial than last year’s solo Lancer Block, but, the changes do bring up several concerns.

First, Lancer LINK homeroom groupings make it harder for information to be distributed among specific grade levels. In the past, students were assigned homerooms based on their alphabetical last names and grade levels. For example, juniors with the last names W through Z were grouped together in the same homeroom. When information, such as assignment notebooks or standardized test scores, need to be distributed, the papers could be easily sorted and sent to each homeroom. Now that students are randomly assorted into homerooms, information specific to grade level cannot be distributed as easily. This year, during the first Lancer LINK, assignment notebooks were given only to freshmen. This sparked some confusion and envy among students, as only 5 assignment notebooks were distributed per homeroom.

Second, some students do not see the benefits of Lancer LINK. Students stated that they, as of September 16th, still do not know everyone’s names yet in their Lancer LINK. Others feel that Lancer LINK is a waste of time, and the activities done during Lancer LINK to build a connection between students are too childish for high school. Others simply prefer to do homework during this time, as they have a long day of school, sports practice, and extracurriculars ahead of them. Sanchi Kalra (‘17) says “I like the concept. I don’t like how it takes up my Monday resource time.”

Third, and most problematic, the new Lancer Block rules pose a problem for students in multiple clubs or activities, (which is the majority of the students at BC). Clubs can no longer meet during Lancer Block any day of the week, but are forced to meet only on Fridays if they cannot meet before or after school. Students in multiple clubs must choose one club meeting over another. BC pushes for students to get involved, but how can students get involved if club meetings conflict during Friday Lancer Blocks?  Additionally, the new rule takes away time from teachers and club advisors that must stay hours after school every day every week to supervise the club.

Although Lancer LINK builds some shallow interpersonal relationships between grades and Lancer Block rules keeps students on task, the new changes are still not the most ideal in BC students’ eyes. Lancer LINK has yet to grow from being “just ice breakers” and Lancer Block should unblock students from their multiple club meetings. With a few small changes, Lancer LINK and Lancer Block can become the most beneficial period to the BC student body.

*Students can still hold club meetings before and after school. However, club meetings during the school day can only be held during Friday Lancer Blocks.