By Sophia Vidales-Harris

Staff Writer

Why did they remove Impact Hour?  Who removed Impact Hour? These are all questions the student body wanted answered as the school year began.

Impact Hour, a class that had functioned as a space for social-emotional instruction at Ferndale High School’s schedule since 2017 was suspended this year.

Carter Williams, a Freshman who had Impact Hour last year at Ferndale Middle School, said “I’m disappointed they removed Impact Hour. It was a time I could connect with my peers.” 

Many students were unsure of the exact reasoning that the class was suspsended.  Sophmore A’Nijah Johnson, guessed that it was suspended  “because they were supposed to do something with it, and then they just stopped.”

Sophomore, Trevion Graham feel like the class lacked purpose. “If I’m being honest, everybody was on their phones,” said Graham, adding that some versions of Impact Hour like science teacher [Christine] Murphy’s class had “actual work.”

Without Impact Hour, some students like Sophomore Kyrie Larkin say they are spending more time on school work at home. 

Sophomore Payton Harley said she is not taking more work home, “To be honest I don’t [do it] or I just do it in another class” she said. 

Xavier Tate, a Freshman, said he didn’t like the change. “I don’t like it, that was like my chill class, now I can’t chill anymore,” said Tate who admitted that  last year  too  many kids were “on their phones when they [were] supposed to be doing other things.” 

The majority of students had mixed emotions about Impact Hour. Many said that without the class their work pile adds up, and they have less time to complete assignments giving them more to do at home. However students also largely felt that not enough of their peers used it wisely enough for it to stay around. 

The student body still has some uncertainty about Impact Hour and its possible return.

“I think they’re gonna see how this semester goes to bring it back,” said Johnson.