(THE PICKET)—Adding an additional week to the end of the semester may be something that the Shepherd University Calendar Committee will be considering for upcoming academic calendar years.
The calendar committee, headed by Dr. Kathleen Reid, department chair of the economics department, has held discussions about adding an additional week to the end of each semester.
Currently the spring and fall semesters at Shepherd consist of 18 weeks. The additional week introduced would be implemented to serve two purposes. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of the additional week would be dedicated to teaching days while Thursday and Friday would be dedicated to capstone presentations. Those students not presenting a capstone project would be able to use Thursday and Friday as study days to prepare for finals week.
Haasahn Peyton, a senior history major said, “I believe an extra week would be beneficial because it would allow more time for those students who feel rushed at the end of the semester.”
Graham Scott, a senior political science major and student representative for the calendar committee said, “The three additional teaching days would make for the lost instruction days during fall and spring recess.”
Some students on campus are not so sure that the extra week would be worth it to them.
Michaela Reger, a sophomore English major said, “I would rather keep the schedule the way it is and just get my exams over with. I don’t want to have to wait around for two extra days when I’m already anxious about finishing my tests and getting ready to head home.”
“It’s not like you can cover a lot of material in one or two days to make a difference,” Anderson said. “Maybe some professors need the extra time, but I’ve been in classes before that the professor has finished covering all the material before the end of the current semester length.”
West Liberty University in Wheeling, W.Va., has an 18 week semester calendar similar to Shepherd. However, other schools in the state like Fairmont State University, in Fairmont, W.Va., end the same week in December as Shepherd and West Liberty but begin a week earlier in August.
At the present time, no official decisions have been made about the proposed idea, and there is no official date set for a decision to be made.
“I just don’t see many people getting much out of an extra week with only three days of classes, especially in the fall semester when we don’t have delays or cancellations for snow like we do after Christmas break,” Reger said.