As the snow continues to fall and the homework continues to pile up, sometimes it’s easy to forget that spring is just around the corner – and with it comes thoughts of the school year ahead.

  Scheduling for the 2016-2017 school year is coming up, so be sure to start thinking about what next year’s curriculum holds in store for you – some fastidious students, like sophomore Michaela Elsen, have had their schedule planned out for quite some time.

  “I’m planning on getting my gym class out of the way next year for half the year, and for the other half I plan on taking Business Law,” Elsen said. “…Then I’m planning on taking the Health course II over the summer. All my required electives are done…and then I plan on taking AP Human Geo, Pre-AP English, Calculus, and AP Bio.”

 Whether or not students have thought everything through in this level of detail, most, including sophomore Michaela Bryan, seem to have the same impression of the scheduling process.

  “I would go to the guidance counselor, write down what classes I wanted to take, and then they would put it into a machine that told me when my classes were,” said Bryan.

  However, this is actually not the case – as told by guidance counselor Evelyn Kabke, all classes are arranged and filed onto a computer by hand.

  “…Once we give you guys all of the scheduling materials and you…pick your classes and everything…we alphabetize it all and we start meeting with every student individually to review their schedule…then…we highlight all the classes you’re going to take on the scheduling  sheet, we put them in a bin and Miss Grace hand-keys every number into the computer,” Kabke said. “Once we get the course verifications back with any changes, then we start working on the master schedule…in Conference Room A, there’s that big scheduling board in there…so we basically wipe the whole thing clear and we start from scratch…”

  By any method, it would be almost impossible to satisfy the most common frustration among students, such as freshman Greyson Daviau, concerning their schedules: class conflicts.

  “[One of the biggest obstacles of scheduling is] not getting your top choices because of just the way that the schedule works out,” said Daviau.

  Bryan, whose schedule clashed in many respects over the past year, agrees.

  “…My schedule didn’t work out because all of my classes overlapped, so I had to do an independent study for choir,” Bryan said. “…I knew I was going to take AP Calculus and Honors Chemistry because I’m in those high-level classes, but choir is also extremely important to me, so…I just thought that choir would probably be the least strenuous in having to do by myself.”

  This grievance is echoed within the guidance office, where the counselors, including Colleen Dzwonczyk, work for days on end to make sure that the course order is as accommodating as possible.

  “[If I could change one thing about scheduling it would be that] everybody would get what they wanted,” said Dzwonczyk. “That’s not practical…I think if eventually we get to a system where students can plug in their schedules online themselves, which is what we’re moving towards, we’re hoping, in the future…then, you’ll take out this whole keying part, and that’ll probably cut down on work and errors being made.”

  Kabke adds that, even now, students could make the arduous process of scheduling much easier by taking a few simple steps.

  “…Students can look up the course descriptions, of course, online,” Kabke said. “…[It] would be just helpful in general is if everybody completed their schedule and handed it in on time, because it can be challenging calling students in who maybe don’t have their schedule completed, or don’t have a schedule at all…”

  In preparation for the tumult of scheduling, you can look over the course curriculum guide here.

  For the student still feeling a bit apprehensive about choosing their path for next August, Michaela Elsen has a handy piece of advice:

  “…When you take classes, just find a couple friends to hang out with…gym class last year was fun because I had a friend to hang out with. Just enjoy yourself.”