Flex was a unique characteristic of Orono High School. It was an hour every other day where students could branch out to other interests in school or use the time as a study hall to complete assignments, projects, or study for tests.

This past year, the leadership students and the school administration debated about whether to keep flex in the schedule for the next school year.

Students of Orono High School were surprised when the schedule change was approved by administration and replaced flex with Spartan Hour.
“Spartan Hour is a change and it’s weird to get used to. I just keep waiting for a week with flex and then realize that it’s gone.” stated Orono High School senior, Tori Wilson.

The students now have a different schedule to follow on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays compared to last year. All class periods are shortened and after first hour each student reports to their specific Spartan Hour teacher.
Each student is paired with a Spartan Hour teacher. This teacher will remain the same for the rest of his or her high school career. Spartan Hour is implemented the same way as flex, and with the same purposes: for students to complete homework, to get help from other teachers (with a pass), or to participate in another school activity.

The differences between flex and Spartan Hour are minimal. The students now have to report to a class room for attendance instead of being able to go to any open classroom in the school. Spartan Hour is shorter than flex, however, and instead of missing a class on that day, the other class periods are shortened.

Sophomore Jake Flemmer believes “Spartan Hour takes away a lot of freedoms from us students.”

The students had the first true test of Spartan Hour during Orono’s 60th homecoming week. They had activities such as the ex-couples game and class competition during this hour.

Orono High School senate advisor, Doug Erickson said, “It’s hard to get everything compacted into this short of a period, but we will make the best of it.” That is exactly what students did. They all gathered during Spartan Hour to involve themselves in activities that bond us as a school.

As everything from Homecoming week settles down we all acquaint ourselves to ‘normal weeks’. Spartan Hour is used to get help from teachers, to finish school work, or to get involved with sports and clubs.

“We are lucky to be at a school where our teachers have enough trust in us to give us a privilege like Spartan Hour. Most schools don’t even have that,” commented Orono High School senior, Sophia Sodhi.

Catherine Braunschweig is a Sports Editor for The Spartan Speaks