Recently, the ninth grade traveled for the first time to Booney’s house, where we talked, played games, and bonded as a class. Just one quick sixty minute period away from the stress of school made a deep impact on the senior class as a whole. This period is called senior time; it’s held once a month and is a privilege our class holds dearly. Senior time has reinforced the values we hold as a class and has brought us closer together. Although we are only a month into Fenn so far, we all can feel the stress of admissions tests, applications, grades, and homework weighing on our shoulders. For this brief period, these worries melted away, and for once I saw everyone in our grade smiling. Some passionately played knee hockey with an unparalleled level of excitement, others cheered their friends on to beat others in basketball, and a few played games like monopoly with fierce competitive spirit. Games likes this built our class as a whole, and this time together is a rare gift. After senior time, we all had a new boost of energy, as if a pure shot of sugar was injected straight into our bodies. We carried that positive energy back to school, where we could share it with the lower grades. We only have this bonding time once a month, which seems insufficient for all the positivity it generated in the class.  I would like to suggest to the school that we dedicate more days for senior time, perhaps during lunch or Friday study halls. We may miss these times with sports and other commitments, so to continue our growth as a class, I hope we can add more senior time to our days.

Freedom is a gift we must earn as ninth graders, but we will only learn with the experience of being given greater freedom. I feel we should be given more freedom because we have earned it  As the seniors in the school, we are role models to the younger grades and will teach them how to act at school. If we are always confined to restrictions and forced to act in certain ways, eventually human nature and our teenage genes will kick in and we will rebel against some of the strict rules. But with greater freedoms, we will be able to explore our minds, be more creative, and have a more pleasurable experience overall at school we will smile more if we were given freedoms like walking into town to get food on Friday between lunch and study halls.  With greater freedoms, more people will thrive as their minds expand and develop new skills. We will learn how to act when no one is watching. If the senior class was to receive greater freedoms, the class will benefit as a whole and the community will as well as the good feelings spread over time. Freedom is a gift, and with it comes evident benefits. 

Senior year is a time to discover who and what you are, and for the best conditions to do this  we need to create a better senior experience for all. This is when we will grow.