IPeriod was designated to be a time when students and faculty could engage in and explore other subjects that they are passionate about beside school work. Every Upper School student will participate in a variety of  iPeriod initiatives throughout the school year. They are required to take two iPeriods for each quarter, and each will meet up twice a week. However, some students have argued about whether iPeriods are beneficial for them.

Many students are required to take mandatory iPeriod labs for AP classes  this year, and junior Hayden Baldwin is one of them. It makes her feel forced while iPeriods are supposed to be more freeing. She thinks that it would be better if this period sticks to its original description as a time for students “to take intellectual risks, without the pressure of grades.”

“Last year, I loved getting to choose different things to do during my iPeriods that I wouldn’t usually try. This provided an interesting break in between my normal classes,” Baldwin said. “But this year, it is a different story. I am being required to take two iPeriods that correspond with classes I am already taking, and I don’t think this is fair to make students take 50 minutes more of a class when they are already in that class for 70 minutes.”

She thinks that iPeriods should be exactly like how they were introduced to the students.

“If you are going to continue to have iPeriod and call it iPeriod, then it should be just that, an independent period for students to try new things. Otherwise, it’s just another class, which is fine but don’t try to call it something that it’s not,” Baldwin said.

Due to the change of iPeriods each quater, some students thinks that they do not have a lasting effect on them.

“I honestly would prefer to be able to sleep 45 minutes later or even get out earlier. I feel as though iPeriods are a waste of time and are pointless,” junior Emily Brandon said.

Junior Aaryn Ijames also has the same opinion toward the length of iPeriods.

“My opinion towards  iPeriod is that for the most part they are unhelpful and time-consuming. While there are interesting iPeriods, I think every students has gotten stuck with an iPeriod they have no interest in and feel as though it is an unproductive time of day,” Ijames said. “I feel like because we only have one time of day where all of the students have free time which is office hours, it makes working on group projects difficult and encourages us to socialize rather than talk to teachers because that’s our only free time”.

While most students do not want to completely eliminate iPeriods, they do have suggestions on how to improve them.

“Things that could make iPeriod better are a more careful placement of people in iPeriods. For example not having them as frequently, maybe having them twice a week rather than four times and leaving the students time to interact and work together” Ijames said.