On Aug. 25, students and staff returned to the Brook for the first day of the 2014-2015 school year. While change occurs every new year from new classes to new teachers, this fall Springbrook is implementing several new policies and programs.

The first, and significant, addition to the school year is the brand new advisory period.

“The advisory period will take place on Wednesdays after third period. It’s a 25 minute period in which students are going to get additional help and support in terms of their social development…There are going to be many lessons geared towards the various needs of the four different grades,” assistant principal Daniel Garcia said.

Not all students think that the new advisory period is the best idea.

“I don’t think it’s necessary because kids are better at learning things on their own and at their own pace. Social skills aren’t supposed to be taught. Some people just naturally have poor social skills,” junior Bridget Mancusi said.

In addition to the new advisory period, the daily schedule has also been changed. There is now more time in the classroom and lunch is cut down to 45 minutes.

“We wanted to give students more time in the classrooms, because we know that the curriculum, with common core and everything else that we’re trying to do, [is] getting more challenging. We wanted to give students more instructional time without sacrificing the support they can get at lunch,” Garcia said.

Another program introduced this year is the Devil’s Advocate program. This addition allows juniors and seniors to go back to a class they previously excelled in to assist the teacher and students.

“So if you’re in 11th or 12th and you were just a great student in biology for example, you can volunteer to work with that teacher and help those students enhance those skills,” Garcia said.

The third major change this year is the revision of the requirements needed to become a student aid. From now on, to be an aid, a student must be a senior, maintain a grade point average of at least a 2.5,  be on track to graduate and have no history of attendance or behavioral problems.

“Honestly, I don’t really like that because some kids need really need their SSL hours but their GPA isn’t very good, so they have to have a way to actually get [them] to graduate,” sophomore Tyra Waterton said.

One last big change is that Springbrook now has free wifi for all. This year, everyone from students to staff to visitors can connect to the wifi. Most students are in favor of the addition.

“It’s great, it allows me to access the web during lunch or down time when I am in need of assistance on my assignments,” senior Emmanuel Nwana said.

However, other students see the downside of bringing wifi to the students.

“It promotes slacking off because now students who may not have had any cell phone reception in certain parts of the building now have Internet access, making it more enticing for them to be on their phone in class instead of paying attention,” junior Colin Page said.

Despite mixed feelings regarding the changes that have come to the Brook this year, they provide great new experiences for everyone.