The bell rings and seniors rush into the doors from the parking lot, but rather than 7:20, second block is about to start.

Skipping 1st and/or 2^nd period is now considered acceptable for this year’s seniors. Seniors can show up late and not be marked tardy.

Toward the end of summer, senior students in Fairfax County received an email about the opportunity to drop their first period class(es). Seniors who met the diploma requirements and were on their way toward graduation were eligible for this opportunity. If they don’t need their first class of the day to graduate, seniors were allowed to drop up to two first period classes. All seniors need to do to drop a class is get written permission from either parent or guardian and their principal.

“I was taking Sports Marketing and it’s an elective so I didn’t need it to graduate,” said senior John Ide.

Seniors are taking advantage of this opportunity. The main motive behind dropping these classes is sleep. An extra hour and a half can help dramatically, especially if students take multiple APs or are in season for sports. The chance to wake up later, after staying up late, is just what seniors need.

“It helps sleeping in while being involved in a sport. I have more energy for practice and meets,” said senior Luke Toth.

Sleep isn’t the only thing seniors do with the extra free time. The spare time can be used to finish up homework or study for a test. If they don’t need the time to do work, seniors can be found at Panera, Starbucks or some other place to eat near the WS campus.

“I have more time to do work and study. It’s a stress reliever since I have more time to get work done,” said Ide.

With college right around the corner, seniors had to take into account how dropping a class would look toward colleges into consideration. Students who were signed up for study hall didn’t think it mattered since credit is not given for that class anyway. Other students were signed up for electives and would rather get the chance to sleep in then to sit in an extra class.

“I didn’t think it would look bad for college because I’m still taking 5 APs and the class I dropped was an elective,” said senior Sasha Thomasson.

Another advantage seniors find in dropping classes is the traffic. In the morning, students and parents can typically find themselves sitting behind car after car stuck in traffic. Coming in late makes a huge difference in the number of cars on the road. Parents are already at work and students are in school leaving the roads surrounding WS empty.

“It’s nice because there’s no traffic in the morning and I can just drive in,” said Thomasson.