Here in our wonderful Nest we have a day where we don’t have to be at school until 9:15. We call it Late Start Wednesday. But what do the different groups of our school do so early in the morning if they’re not at school?
“It’s wonderful to sleep to 9:30 so I finally get eight hours of sleep, since I don’t have a first period” says senior Johnathan Diaz.
Of course, teenagers aren’t exactly known to be “morning people”, and many of us need some caffeine to get us through the day. Starbucks is too far away for some, but luckily we have a coffee house of our own. Local businesses like iCoffee have students that are regulars on late-start days.
Senior Danny Hanlon is one of those. “I take my sister to school and then go to iCoffee because they have amazing frappés,” he says.
It seems there are multiple places to hang out around here like Gunter’s, a gas station famous to Northern students for its slushies. Senior Eric Ball travels to the convenience store most Wednesdays to hang with his “lady friend.”
Another popular place to go is the Chic-Fil-A on Pisgah Church Road, which is not too far from Spencer-Dixon. Stephanie Igo goes every late-start with a group of her friends. The Georgia-founded franchise always has specials on Wednesdays because the managers know that there are always a lot of nighthawks swooping by.
The least fun thing to do on your late-start break is having to work. Teachers use the extra time to have a department meeting, and even staff members who work in the front office still have to come in at their regular time.
“My duties don’t change much with late-start day, it gives me time to have an extra cup of coffee while the students sleep in” says Mrs. Sharon Dippel, who mans the main desk in the front office.
Even some of the students are called into their part-time jobs early in the morning. Like senior Brittany Coble, who has to “work for a while to help prep at Carrabbas.”
Many people do many different things on their late-start days, but unless you have to ride the bus, it’s safe to say the majority of kids try their best to sleep in and enjoy the extra thirty minutes.