With the start of the new semester, many students are eager to return to the Patriot Path schedule. However, could students be putting the forty-five-minute breaks in jeopardy?

As the school year reaches its closing half, teachers and faculty must congregate and discuss whether or not Patriot Path is benefitting the students.

Bob Jones High School junior and SGA member Aija Abele said, “What I like about Patriot Path is: I am able to do SGA meetings and stuff like that, and we’re able to meet during Patriot Path. It allows us to focus more on what we need to be productive with.”

For many students at Bob Jones, Patriot Path is an outlet that allows us to attend important club meetings during school hours rather than before or after. It also opens up new opportunities for students to get involved in activities they would never have the time for otherwise.

Unfortunately, many teachers fear that is not the case for every student. A large number of the kids at Bob Jones prefer the more leisurely activities rather than the academically beneficial ones. Although everybody loves the chance to take a break and relieve stress, these sessions do very little to encourage student involvement.

Mrs. Vandagriff stated that the most consistent sessions were “basketball, ping-pong, the doodle and draw, get outside, coffee shop, and quiet room and silent room.”  As far as student-led sessions go, Mrs. Vandagriff said there were, “Not a whole lot of those. Maybe you’d have about three or four a week.”

Despite their limited number per week, student-led sessions do exceptionally well. When asked about students who lead Patriot Paths, Mrs. Vandagriff said, “Most of them who lead them end up doing pretty well. Hula is probably one of the most popular student-led ones. Love Lundy led a family feud one. That did pretty well, too.” These sessions not only open new and unique opportunities for students, but they are also excellent examples of student involvement. With more students leading Patriot Paths, there will be less reason to get rid of it next year.

However, there is one major obstacle standing in the way of more frequent student-led sessions. Bob Jones junior Leland Beckwith stated, “They want it to be student-led, but we haven’t exactly been educated on how to do that.” Information on how to start their own sessions is not made apparent enough for students. Students also might be holding back due to lack of ideas or confidence. Encouragement and information are imperative if teachers want students to start stepping up and leading their own sessions.

That being said, it is still important for students to have some down time during the school day. Another Bob Jones High School junior Anna Estes stated, “I like the coloring Patriot Path because it helps me de-stress because I never stress about coloring.”

If Patriot Path becomes more of an academic outlet rather than a leisurely one, will students still enjoy it?

In the end, that is up to the students. Perhaps instead of having an abundance of quiet rooms, students could start voicing their ideas of more creative ways to relax and forget about school for a while. A sampling of students requested baton twirling, guided meditation, old school P.E (such as cone sweep, parachute, and dodgeball), origami, and AP study groups. Patriot Paths involving more crafts, sports, games, pop culture, and other related activities led by students keep Patriot Path going another year.