In the 2019-2020 school year, Mount Vernon High School implemented a good way for students to get extra help from their teachers. In the previous school year, there were two times for students to eat lunch, lunch A and lunch B. Each lunch was around 30 minutes long, only providing time to eat. Meeting time to work with teachers happened during MTSS time on Fridays for an 85-minute block. The administration came to the decision that they would have one long lunch where students could eat lunch for 30 to 45 minutes and then have an additional 30 minutes to consult with teachers. If you don’t have to consult with teachers or have any questions for them you can continue to hang out with your friends or do homework on your own. 

This is a positive change for Mount Vernon High School because many students at Mount Vernon are involved in after school activities such as athletics or fine arts, so it is hard for students to get the extra help they need. As a student, I think it is very important to have time to eat and talk to your friends. We enjoy W.I.N. lunch because it gives us about 30 minutes to relax and talk to each other. Then when the bell rings for win time we can either go to a teacher’s room and get help with our homework, do our homework, or if we understood the homework from the previous night we could continue to hang out with each other. 

Another positive thing about W.I.N. lunch is that instead of seeing your teachers once a week for 85 minutes you get the opportunity to see them multiple times a week. In the past, if you had questions with the homework then you had to wait until Friday, which can be a long time if it’s Monday or Tuesday. The new lunch system gives student’s an opportunity to clear up confusion every day. 

Understandably some students don’t always use W.I.N. time to their advantage. Even though a student may be confused on the topic they are learning in class they may still choose to hang out with their friends and not go in to get the help they need. Thankfully teachers have the option to “claim” a student meaning they have to come in during W.I.N. time or else they will receive a detention. 

The high school administration has clearly made a change that positively impacts students. It’s always a good thing when students can have extra time to get help from teachers during normal school hours, eat, and hang out with friends. The administration should be happy that they were able to positively impact every student in the school by giving them extra time to meet with teachers during the day.