During the two-week break students have in spring, there are students who come to SHS and review or learn ways to improve in classes and prepare for standardized tests, such as the SAT. The spring intersession held at SHS is a time for teachers who are willing to teach outside of the regularly scheduled school session to help students review for a few major standardized tests. The intersession program held during breaks started when Perry Township switched from the traditional school calendar to the balanced school calendar.

The intersession is always held on the first week of the break, Monday through Thursday, for four hours everyday. Assistant principal Amy Boone takes part in organizing the amount of students in each class and the rotations. She says that the students who come to school benefit from the time used to review content that they learned so they get another look at the information to remember.

“This year with ISTEP being added as well, the teachers are going to talk both about the ECA and the ISTEP. It’s more relaxed at school during break and there are about a hundred students or so that show up,” Boone said. “I think students who haven’t participated should take advantage of the opportunity, it’s free and we always give prizes to students who show up for all four days. So come learn, expand, get free opportunities and get goodies as well.”

There are different sections, such as the SAT prep sessions and ECA review sessions. Chelsea Brothers teaches a review session for the math ECA. Brothers says that she takes information that could be on the ECA, mostly Algebra, and breaks it up into sections to review in only four days. She says that reteaching all the steps for the problems gives students the extra practice they might be looking for.

“I think getting that extra help, seeing the content one more time from a teacher and practicing it a couple more times will get them to pass it,” Brothers said. “We do practice tests about at the end of every session so they can see what the ECA might look like, so I think that if students haven’t passed it or if they were so close, it’s definitely a good idea to come.”

Brothers says that she tries to make the sessions interesting to get students to be interactive and involved, also because it’s spring break and it shouldn’t be too boring. School may not be the ideal place to spend half of the break in, but if students need help, the spring intersession is the ideal place to receive help from teachers who are also giving up some spring break time to reteach and review content needed for several standardized tests.