TRY-mesters
by Hannah Tjepkes | Class of 2021 | Apr. 9, 2020
The opportunity to take classes personalized to a student’s interests and future is becoming more than a want; it's a need.
Hudson is in a semester-based calendar for the school year, but our district should consider a trimester calendar.
Trimesters lessen the load
In a trimester system, each trimester is 12 weeks in length compared to Hudson’s long 16-week semesters. For students who struggle to understand all the information throughout a semester, this schedule would help improve grades because it decreases the load of information and separates it between trimesters.
Another benefit of this schedule, is the five period schedule trimesters have during the day, which is different from the eight period day we experience now at Hudson High School. Students would have fewer classes and, therefore, less of a workload at the end of the day.
For students like me that play sports, it is often hard to come in outside of class because there are practices after school, and we often take full schedules of classes during the day. How are we supposed to get help? Trimesters would increase the amount of time in the classroom so students wouldn’t need to go in after school.
Trimesters help in depth learning
Does decreasing the number of weeks in a trimester cram too much information in a short amount of time?
No. In a trimester system, five periods meet every day. Those five class periods are 72-minutes long. In a semester system with eight periods a day, students are in eight classes a day that are 45 minutes long.
If you add that up, that means in the trimester system students are in the classroom 8,496 minutes compared to 7,568 minutes in a semester system. That is almost 1,000 more hours of instruction and learning. With the increase of instructional time and fewer classes in the day, students are destined to succeed.
Trimesters increase 1 on 1 help
Core classes are typically 2 trimesters (24 weeks), electives are 1 trimester (12 weeks), and AP classes and music are all 3 (36 weeks). When you split up classes this way, it decreases the number of students in a class at one time. With Hudson’s growing population, having smaller class sizes for students is crucial to meet Hudson's effective learning goal. For students to succeed in the classroom, smaller class sizes are needed.
In conclusion
Trimesters lessen the load, help in-depth learning, and create an atmosphere with more 1 on 1 time between the student and teacher. I don’t know about you, but I really think HHS should give them a TRY-mester.