Academics

Student reaction to exit elimination!

Emily Hemphill

February 21, 2008

Centennial High School’s Board of Education recently made the decision to eliminate exit requirements, a series of twenty-four projects and assignments students were to complete in order to graduate. Most students were thrilled with this decision.

Senior August Richters was a little worried about having to complete all the requirements in time. “I knew I had to get them all done so I could graduate. It was hard because a lot of our new teachers really didn’t understand what they were supposed to assign to meet the requirements.”

Sophomore Alex Schmidt said she didn’t like the requirements and was happy to see them eliminated. “They were hard to get, and I didn’t have the time to spend on the extra homework.”

Many of the required assignments were already part of regular class curriculum. “We still have to do the assignment in class, but now we don’t have to worry about missing any of them and not graduating,” said junior Jacquelyn Uffelman.

One result of the drop in exit requirements was an increase in community service hours. An extra twenty hours of service were added to the existing forty; a total of sixty hours of service must be completed before a student may graduate. Uffelman said, “The hours aren’t that bad. There are plenty of ways to get them; if you start early and get them done you don’t have to worry about it.”

Some students, however, liked the exit requirements. “They weren’t that bad. I’d prefer them over the sixty hours of community service,” said sophomore Felicia Golden.

Others thought the hours were an unnecessary requirement. “The hours are fine, but I think they could have added some optional college-level curriculum in place of the requirements to challenge students,” said sophomore Justin Stutzman.

The Board is not planning to replace the exit requirement program, as most of the projects are already part of class curriculum. This year’s seniors will still be able to complete the twenty-four exit requirements, if desired, to graduate with excellence. However, an alternative for this honor will be put in place at the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year. “We are trying to figure out what we need to hold students accountable for in order to graduate with excellence,” said Principal Ryan Ruhl.