A profound change has occurred at DGS, and I’m loving it—Monday late starts.

As a junior at DGS, I was pretty bummed when I heard the news about the switch because I thought there would be no time for homework and sleep compared to what students had with the Wednesday late starts. However, I work late every Sunday, and it’s frustrating to wake up on Mondays and be unprepared and overtired. Monday late starts have definitely have benefited me.

I was curious why we made the switch, so I spoke with the Associate Principal Georgia Hash.

“We looked into something that could possibly do something that is more uniformed and more often. Having late starts every single week makes it much easier for everyone to remember. A lot of it, unfortunately, have to do with the bus ,” said Hash.

As a student who gets dropped off by my parents each morning, I still choose to come around the same time as the buses to gather my materials and be on time for first period.

While bus schedules played a key role in this decision, academic aspects were considered.

“The idea was to think about the time that teachers need for professional growth, and to look at how their students are doing and to be structured slightly,” said Hash.

Mondays are the perfect day to have light approaches to the week. Normally, we are given a pile of homework at the start of the week which makes it stressful and overwhelming for the student. When late starts are incorporated, the classes are a bit shorter and it makes for a less draining day.

I spoke with Freshman Jerel Brown to see what underclassmen thought since they never experienced Wednesday late starts.

“I mean I’m just happy that I even get one late start, plus [I] feel like Mondays are better because you’re like ugh [it’s] Monday but then you have a late start. Instead, Wednesday would just be in the middle of the week,” said Brown.

As much as I love the new Monday late starts, students are still going to be sleepy because after all, it’s still Monday.