Every day at Spartanburg High School, students are required to attend a 25-minute-long period after fourth period called “Viking Flex.” Viking Flex, formerly known as “Power Hour” and “Viking Hour,” changed this year with the arrival of new principal Andrew McMillan and the school board’s decision to make a positive and practical change for all students at SHS.
After weeks of careful observation, McMillan and other administrators decided to tweak the previous session of Viking Hour where students would have a choice of going to either Session A or Session B for either an activity or lunch. The reality of the situation seemed to be that too many students impacted lunches and overcrowding led to students not getting food, becoming a widespread problem for the school. The idea of keeping Viking Hour would remain in effect, but the new rearrangement of the period implements the three regular lunch schedules with a 25-minute activity session. Activities range from extracurricular ones like going to the arena and playing basketball or going to make up a quiz in a tutoring session provided by teachers.
Some may ask, is Viking Flex necessary? Given the privilege of going to tutoring or quiet study, students can catch up on homework or study and use the period much like a study hall. Viking Flex can be a real lifesaver, especially for student athletes who cannot attend Viking Refuel (afterschool tutoring)
Anna-Elise Healey (10) thinks thinks the new schedule is better.
“I think Flex can be good for a lot of people in many ways. When we still had Viking Hour last year, I definitely disliked it because overcrowding always happened in the cafeteria, and it wasn’t a very pleasant experience into class change. Since the change in bringing the three lunches into Flex, there has been a big improvement in crowding, and it was noticeable,” Healey said.
Carson Bishop (11) thinks Viking Flex could be a game changer with getting help on a class that students may have a struggle in.
“I think it’s a cool idea because we have extra time in the day while still having three lunches, which makes them feel less crowded,” Bishop said. “It benefits a lot of people academically, especially if they’re in a sport, because they have extra time to get help and not need to go to afterschool tutoring.”
Students and teachers across the school all likely have their individual opinions on Viking Flex.
English teacher Stephanie Ooley thinks highly on the idea of a new Viking Flex schedule.
“I think Viking Flex is great. Students get the time to do work and catch up on things that they could have missed,” Ooley said.
Since Viking Flex was implemented, positive change has occured. More students seem happier in lunches because implementing the activity session and having three lunches gives more space and makes the hallways and traffic run a lot smoother.
