Class Night is a wildly popular event that takes place in LHS during the months of February-March. It is a fun, creative way for the four classes to compete against each other and shines a light on the artistically and musically talented students in each grade. The goal is as follows: to write a skit that teaches students a valuable lesson and includes a girls’ dance, boys’ dance, kickline dance, and group dance. The skit cannot be longer than twenty minutes and must follow a predetermined theme that is set each year. 

 For many students, it is enjoyable, but it is also a lot of work. An important part of Class Night is that the skits are student run. This means the students oversee everything from the script to the choreography, sets, and art. Class Night takes a lot of time to plan, practice, and perform, and during this time, students are generally still getting their heavy workload that they get at any other time in the school year. Keeping up with essays, exams, presentations, and more all while planning and rehearsing what many students believe to be the biggest event of the school year can be very tiring. Because of this heavy workload, many students have proposed a new way of operating during the weeks leading to Class Night. Students should not have to complete a normal amount of work as it gets closer to Class Night, as the event is encouraged and enjoyed by teachers and administration. If so many like Class Night, then there is no reason that involvement should not be made easier on the students by decreasing their workload for the weeks when it is in full swing. 

While students can sometimes become overly competitive and lose sight of the message at the heart of it all, Class Night is about inspiration, healthy competition, and teaching students valuable lessons. It is for all these reasons that LHS faculty and administration support and even encourage the event. That being said, teachers don’t necessarily ease up on work because of this; However, some teachers fully understand. Social studies teacher Stephen Locicero shares the students’ sentiments and tries his best to make life easier on his students. “I think grades and Class Night are both very important, and the students should try and manage their time during one of the most important events each year for LHS.” Locicero understands that Class Night is important to students, and allows for his work to get done, while still making life easier on the students, something much more faculty should be doing. 

At LHS, there are many talented music and art students. When Class Night comes around, it is their time to shine and show off their skills. Although there are many gifted students, talent takes time! It takes more than a week to perfect a dance, a musical number, or even a set piece. On top of that, class night, especially with these students has lots of involvement, so it is unfair to expect arguably a majority of students to handle their usual workload and participate at the same time. Senior Jaiden Moreno, the face behind the Class of 2023’s successful skits, thinks that it is reasonable to decrease the workload during the weeks leading up to Class Night. “While I do still think grades should have some importance during Class Night, I think it would be reasonable for teachers to ease up slightly on the workload during the month it takes place. Class Night is just an extracurricular activity, yes, but it teaches invaluable teamwork and social and leadership skills, all of which are just as important as any extra homework assignments we might miss.” He continued, “Because of this, along with the very high numbers of involvement, I think it would be fair for teachers to ease up on the grading during Class Night.” 

Aside from all the positive aspects of Class Night, it is also very stressful trying to put on a great show for the school. Stress and anxiety levels in teens have been increasing for years, so to add on an extra layer of stress with missing assignments and missed tests is counter productive for everyone. If teachers assigned fewer assignments and allowed for students to make up work more leniently during the month of Class Night, that extra stress would be taken away, and students would be able to have a much more enjoyable time.  

Senior Emily Polazante relates to the stress of school and said, “I think that grades shouldn’t matter during Class Night. Students are constantly stressed with the preparation that Class Night comes with, and teachers know that students will be out late either at rehearsal or for art.” However, she agreed that schoolwork is still important: “I think we should still be learning, but I think that the workload that is given should be decreased since students get so involved.”

Class Night is supposed to be fun and an exciting event for students, and the constant assignments and exams just makes it more stressful than it needs to be. So, teachers, please consider the lives of your students this Class Night season, and make it a happy time for everyone.