Originating from a good concept, Wildcat Wednesday has not been as successful as it was intended to be. In an attempt to relieve student stress, WJ administration created a day that was designated for students to have time to work on previously given assignments rather than having regular instruction. Coming back to school fully in-person this year, it has been difficult to truly monitor whether or not teachers are abiding by the Wildcat Wednesday rules.

As a result of needing to cover all material in a timely manner, many teachers do not use Wednesday as a non-teaching day. Out of all my teachers, the only one that allows us to work on our assignments on Wednesday is my English teacher, although she requires us to solely work on assignments from her class. If students are not given time in all of their classes to work on homework, there is no point in having Wildcat Wednesday. Some teachers will give one day a week (a non-Wednesday) as study time to make it fit their lesson plans more efficiently. This causes the system to be inconsistent, ineffective and, above all, unfair to students.

During the second quarter, my math and Psychology teacher were in the same pattern of having four days to learn and study the material and then would test on Thursday. Having to study for two tests, especially with extracurricular activities was extremely difficult and this was happening because Wildcat Wednesday was influencing the teachers to review on Wednesday and then test the next day. Essentially, the day that was supposed to be relieving my stress and allowing me to take a brain break from school ended up being the day that added tons of stress and didn’t allow me to truly rest and take the day to feel much mental “Wednesday”.

The Wildcat Wednesday day also takes time away from regular classes so that students can have a study hall in their homeroom. The main issue with homeroom is that students are rarely given the time to work on their assignments as administration usually has an informational Google Slides presentation or a self-paced NearPod lesson. Although the time was originally supposed to be helpful, it has now turned into an instructional hour for lessons that are important for the school community. The environment can also prevent students from being able to focus on their work as many people socialize during this designated time.