50p
Coffee, Conversations and Applications
I don’t hear a bell first thing Friday morning. Instead, I hear my pillow – beckoning me back to cuddle up in my cozy duvet. I don’t rush out of bed because I’m late for class, because frankly, I don’t have class.
I have the most luxurious gift I could have gotten after four years of blood, sweat and tears. The highest, most sought out benefit of being a Grade 12.
I don’t hear a bell first thing Friday morning because I have a SPARE.
A spare, or in House Parent lingo, a “study block”, is a Grade 12’s reward for having made it this far academically. Instead of six courses, Grade 12s are allowed to take five, giving us a spare block four days a week.
Spares are fueled by focus, homework and friends. Although it may seem like an opportunity for teenagers to slack off, there are much-needed motives fueling the spare. Grade 12 is extremely busy: from infamous cafe duty, to the dramatic pitfalls of the Brentwood rumor mill, Grade 12s have more than a handful of demands on their precious time. So how are we rewarded, in the classical, Brentonian way? By allowing us this magical free 52 minutes.
I asked a few Grade 12s how they have been handling their first few weeks of spare honeymooning:
“I do SAT prep in my spare,” says Nick R, “but I have mine after assemblies and sometimes people talk too much. I have university to think about. I also eat lots and lots of food. That’s all.”
“I play ping pong,” says Joel B.
Raveena K feels grateful, stating “Downtime is a rare and magical thing at Brentwood and having that extra block to study or de-stress has helped me through so much of the year so far.”
Even past grads, like Laura Tully, (2012), thank the spare. “After graduating I realized that having a spare helped me get the grades that I wanted to get.”
However, the uncommon few who choose not to take a spare, have their reasons.
“I decided not to take a spare this year, because I wouldn't know what to do with the free time. I only know how to function in a classroom, and would be completely lost without a teacher telling me what to do,” states Yasyf M, one of our top academics. “Maybe I'd consider it if they made "spare" an academic class, monitored by at least one teacher, and with a moderate to high load of homework that looks excellent on university transcripts.”
Whoa, Yasyf! When I’ve done a week’s worth of hard work, I give myself a pat on the back with a spare trip to Tim Hortons. Don’t ignore the key words, though: hard work.
I occasionally see grads hanging around in the common rooms, watching favorite TV shows (Breaking Amish), or lounging in the McNeill Center, but usually they spend their time in their rooms, working on Psychology or Chemistry AP, or their blog articles. The workload seems overwhelming at times, but it’s what happens in the coming months that are the most daunting: university applications.
So as we acclimatize to the turbulence of Grade 12, there is something that gives us some stability. For now, we can just hold on. It’d be a bumpy ride without our spare.
Katie R
I have the most luxurious gift I could have gotten after four years of blood, sweat and tears. The highest, most sought out benefit of being a Grade 12.
I don’t hear a bell first thing Friday morning because I have a SPARE.
A spare, or in House Parent lingo, a “study block”, is a Grade 12’s reward for having made it this far academically. Instead of six courses, Grade 12s are allowed to take five, giving us a spare block four days a week.
Spares are fueled by focus, homework and friends. Although it may seem like an opportunity for teenagers to slack off, there are much-needed motives fueling the spare. Grade 12 is extremely busy: from infamous cafe duty, to the dramatic pitfalls of the Brentwood rumor mill, Grade 12s have more than a handful of demands on their precious time. So how are we rewarded, in the classical, Brentonian way? By allowing us this magical free 52 minutes.
I asked a few Grade 12s how they have been handling their first few weeks of spare honeymooning:
“I do SAT prep in my spare,” says Nick R, “but I have mine after assemblies and sometimes people talk too much. I have university to think about. I also eat lots and lots of food. That’s all.”
“I play ping pong,” says Joel B.
Raveena K feels grateful, stating “Downtime is a rare and magical thing at Brentwood and having that extra block to study or de-stress has helped me through so much of the year so far.”
Even past grads, like Laura Tully, (2012), thank the spare. “After graduating I realized that having a spare helped me get the grades that I wanted to get.”
However, the uncommon few who choose not to take a spare, have their reasons.
“I decided not to take a spare this year, because I wouldn't know what to do with the free time. I only know how to function in a classroom, and would be completely lost without a teacher telling me what to do,” states Yasyf M, one of our top academics. “Maybe I'd consider it if they made "spare" an academic class, monitored by at least one teacher, and with a moderate to high load of homework that looks excellent on university transcripts.”
Whoa, Yasyf! When I’ve done a week’s worth of hard work, I give myself a pat on the back with a spare trip to Tim Hortons. Don’t ignore the key words, though: hard work.
I occasionally see grads hanging around in the common rooms, watching favorite TV shows (Breaking Amish), or lounging in the McNeill Center, but usually they spend their time in their rooms, working on Psychology or Chemistry AP, or their blog articles. The workload seems overwhelming at times, but it’s what happens in the coming months that are the most daunting: university applications.
So as we acclimatize to the turbulence of Grade 12, there is something that gives us some stability. For now, we can just hold on. It’d be a bumpy ride without our spare.
Katie R
75p
