Principal Kehne has announced that Urbana High School will have recreational time outdoors each day during the 2019-2020 school year. For forty minutes after second block, students will be able to spend time on the sports fields, track, tennis courts, auxiliary gym, bleachers, or in the library.

Many other high schools in the Frederick County Public School system have an “Extended Learning Time,” “Connect,” or other version of “homeroom.” This would be similar to these in that students could work on homework or meet with a teacher, however, during “Hawktime,” students will also be able to go outside or to the gym, similar to recess in elementary school.

Recess in elementary school has proved to be beneficial in both the behavior and productivity of students. Implementing recreational time in high school could have a similar effect. During recess, students generally spend their time socializing or participating in physical activity. Several studies have shown that having an unstructured interruption during the day “whether performed indoors or outdoors, made children more attentive and more productive in the classroom” (AAP 2013). Recreational time allows students to have break from the monotony of the school day as well as a means of stress relief. High school students tend to have very high stress levels and Hawktime will offer students “a necessary, socially structured means for managing stress” (AAP 2013).

If students do not want to go outside or to the gym, they would be allowed to make an appointment with a teacher or head to the library and work on schoolwork. This would be another way for students to become less stressed as they would be able to complete homework or receive additional help during the school day.

AAP. (2013, January 01). The Crucial Role of Recess in School. Retrieved from https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/131/1/183