September 5, 2023, marked the first day of the 2023-2024 school year for Arrowhead students. According to Public School Review, Arrowhead High School is home to roughly 2,000 students each year. With two buildings, students say that first days can be chaotic.
“[The first day was] fun! I enjoyed getting to see all my friends!” senior Emily Biwer said.
According to Arrowhead Schools, all students need to have 50 total credits to graduate and score a 65% or higher on the Wisconsin Civics Test. Within those 50 credits, it is required to have eight English credits and six social studies, science, and math credits. It is also required to have additional class credits including two career and technical education credits, three physical education credits, two fine art credits and one health credit. Additionally, students need 16 other courses to graduate.
“[The first day of school was] really tiring because I didn’t get to adjust my sleep schedule,” said senior Ryann Steinbauer.
Multiple students said that they often feel more tired in the morning and are more awake at later hours in the night.
Arrowhead’s South campus starts classes at 7:20 am while North campus starts at 7:30 am.
“[The first day of school] took some adjusting. After sleeping in to 10 am during the summer and then having to get up at 6:30 is rough,” senior Ben Johnson said.
Arrowhead has a Flexible Scheduling Option (FSO) where junior and senior students are allowed to come into school late or leave early if they have a consistent GPA of 3.0 and be on track to graduate. FSO allows qualified students to arrive at school second hour or leave ninth hour.
In the mornings, some students have said that it is harder to wake up and get going in the mornings with FSO. However, other students have said that with the later start, it is easier for them to do their work and get into the groove of school because they are able to sleep for longer and have more time to wake up.
Arrowhead has ten 40 minute classes, including a lunch period. The high school also has four minute passing periods in between classes for the students to get to their respective classes.
“[I was] excited and nervous about who was in my classes, but it went well and the people in my classes are awesome,” Biwer said.
Biwer is in AP Macroeconomics, AP Psychology, Modern Literature, Functions, andTech Ed Youth Apprenticeship. Biwer has morning FSO so she is able to get at 8 am instead of the normal 7:30 class start time.
