By Jeda Lee

Notice something weird on your schedule this year? Study Seminars seemed to pop up on peoples’ schedule out of nowhere and have left some confused.
   “Study Seminar” is just a fancy name for a free period, a period where you do not have a class. It is mostly given to people with busy schedules to free up a space to study and get other work done.
   If you have a study seminar you can go to the library to study, go home, or just sit there. Most people leave rather than stay on campus. Study seminars at Reynolds are not new, but have been seen more this school year.
   “I had one [study seminar] on my schedule my junior year so I knew what to expect,” senior Brittney Kimbrough said.
   For many this was their first time seeing the words “study seminar” on their schedules. In the past, instead of saying study seminar with a teacher and a place to go, there was not a class in that space.
   Most people are happy when they get a free period because they get a little break from all the stress from school.
   “I felt relieved when I saw that I had a study seminar,” Kimbrough said. “It’s my senior year and my schedule was hectic, I needed a break and time to study.”
   On the first day people with said study periods were told to go to the media center as it stated on the schedule. There they were greeted by a teacher and given either a class change form and/or a paper that needed to be signed if you were leaving campus.

    The paper was given to students that were considering leaving campus during their free period especially if it is in the middle of the school day. It said if you did not turn it into a counselor a class may be put into your free period spot.

   Some question if study seminars are actually helpful. A lot of kids do not use them for studying or getting work done. Instead they use that time to their leisure but that is to be expected.

   “I feel like it all depends on people’s schedule,” Kimbrough said. “Some people have a free period just to have one and some people actually catch up on their work.”

   Free periods or “study seminars” serve its purpose as a study period for some and for others just a break from the hectic, stressful, and tiresome school environment. Either way, both purposes are helpful to students.