Students at Capital High School have been having 10-minute breaks after 2nd period for a while, but are they long enough? Many students complain that the break doesn’t give them enough time to accomplish what they were hoping to do, like get schoolwork done, or have something to eat. I highly agree, because by the time I’m able to walk through the hallways and to the commons to find my friends, most of the break is gone. The second that warning bell rings, everyone around me groans and complains. The 10-minute break is not truly 10 minutes. It’s just a passing period (5 minutes), plus 5 more minutes. After interviewing students, I found that most people agree it should be 15 minutes or more. 

After interviewing some students, I found common responses. Salome Swanson said the break should be about 20 minutes because she can’t accomplish anything important, like catching up on schoolwork, and is usually always late for her 3rd-period class. Ella Reeves agrees that break isn’t long enough because time is already up by the time you get to where you need to be. Kaitlinn Aldridge said the break should be 15 minutes because it would give us more time to eat and socialize, and that’s what the purpose of the break is for. She also said if the break were extended, we could actually finish what we were doing, and then get to class on time. When I asked Matilda Baker what she could accomplish during the break, she replied, “I don’t know, text people. There’s not much.” 

This is similar to other responses, like Olivia Norton, who emphasized the word ‘yes’ when asked if she struggles to find friends. Michael Lunde, CHS dean of students stated, “The commons gets really crowded, and I think that’s probably hard for some people…then if people are looking for groups or whatever…it can be hard to walk around.” According to Mr. Lunde, “The school wants to make sure that anybody who needs to eat can have time and access to food. If a student gets here late and they need to have breakfast, that’s a good time…it’s nice to have a little breather…because for some students it’s four periods until they have lunch, so to have that break gives them a little bit of time between classes. It’s short but it’s not nothing.” 

When asked, Mr. Lunde said he doesn’t know that it’s been considered to extend the 10-minute break. “It could be possible”, he said “but to my knowledge, no one has ever talked about it.” He mentioned instructional minutes, which is how much time (by law) the school is required to have students in class. Another thing Mr. Lunde said, “We are required to have an advisory/club time…so we do that on Wednesdays…and then Wednesdays we don’t have the 10-minute break…so there’s not a lot of spare minutes to extend break.” Mr. Lunde then went on to say basically that if the break were extended to 15 minutes, the school would then possibly have to get out 5 minutes later than usual. 

I realized that 2nd period is about 5 minutes longer than the other classes thanks to the announcements, so if the schedule were changed to add those 5 minutes to break, that would be great. Then, the school could send the announcement in an email or direct students to where this information is online. The school social media account could also link that information for us. I just think it’s frustrating that students are required to have a certain amount of minutes they’re supposed to be in class when we have equally compelling needs outside of the classroom. We should be able to have more of a break so we aren’t so overworked and exhausted all of the time because everything feels too rushed, like we can’t catch a break. We should be allowed to slow down and take a breather.